Sales of American cars for May have been set at a seasonally adjusted total of 16.7 million vehicles following the announcement of results by all of the main American retailers.

According to the Automotive News Data Centre the figure marks the first gain on the corresponding figures for 2002 since the start of this year.

General Motors (GM) yesterday (June 3rd) reported an eight per cent increase in US sales in May, while Ford has reported a small loss of 0.8 per cent when compared to figures for the same period last year.

GM has now announced it plans to scale back third-quarter output by six per cent, while Ford will slash American vehicle production in the next quarter by as much as 15 per cent.

The American automotive market has been struggling for some time with demand for vehicles from most of the main industry layers dwindling.

However, recent figures from ABC News/Money Magazine and the Conference Board's US Consumer Confidence index, suggest confidence may be slowly returning to the American public, with analysts now waiting to see if that materialises in the form of sustained extra sales.