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Annualized U.S. auto sales edged above 10 million in May despite flat or falling incentives, with General Motors Co. (GM) executives calling a bottom to the sector.

Ford executives were more cautious about the uptick from annualized sales of 9.86 million in April, noting an end-of-month surge in sales by GM and from Chrysler dealers being dropped by the company.

However, global industry sales are forecast to have climbed to 63.6 million last month from 60 million in April, according to GM, signaling that the global slowdown is partially easing.

GM and Ford both gained market share in the U.S. during May at the expense of Japanese rivals. GM executives were also upbeat about sales weathering the impact of its bankruptcy filing.

"We are starting to emerge from the global downturn," said GM strategist Mark LeNeve on a conference call, noting that the company had gained share in emerging markets such as China, as well as in Germany and France.

Global sales have been lifted in part by government incentives to scrap older vehicles, but U.S. manufacturers said their own discounts are moderating. Ford said incentives fell in May from the prior month, while GM said its were flat.

GM and Ford both beat analysts' expectations to fill the top two spots in the U.S. sales, with sequential gains from the previous month.

Ford reported a 24.1% year-on-year decline, with GM down 29% and fifth-ranked Chrysler off 46.9%.

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) slipped 40.7% and fourth-ranked Honda Motor Co. Ltd (HM) was down 41.5%. Nissan Motor CO. (NSANY) rounded off the top six with a 33.1% decline.

Executives all expressed concern about the impact of rising gasoline prices, with the mix of sales expected to veer more towards cars from trucks over the balance of the year.

Financing, which had dominated talk of falling sales over the past nine months, barely received a mention on company calls.

U.S. auto production is typically weighed towards the first half of the year, but is expected to reverse in 2009 despite the cuts at GM and Chrysler.

Ford plans to take advantage of the competitors' woes, announcing Tuesday a 10,000-vehicle increase in second-quarter production and projecting third-quarter output up some 10% from a year earlier - Ford's first significant production increase in almost two years.

GM said it would release third-quarter production rates later this week.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; (312) 750 4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com

(John Kell, Jeff Bennett and Kevin Kingsbury contributed to this article)

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