Gary Dilts, the top sales analyst at Chrysler, said, "the guys on the showroom floor think this has been a negative distraction."

Ford's chief sales analyst agreed Monday that high gas prices were not a temporary phenomenon, although he did not cite a price range.

L. Ray Windecker 3d, Ford's sales analyst, played down the significance of the move.

A person wanting a sales forecast asks the sales analyst.

Ford's chief sales analyst, George Pipas, said his company's lower supply of 2006 models put Ford dealers in a strong position.

Ford's chief sales analyst, George Pipas, estimates that automakers are likely to sell more than two million crossovers a year for the next several years.

"It was a whole different dynamic then," said George Pipas, the corporate sales analyst at Ford.

"We expected our sales to be down in the range of 15 or 20 percent," said George Pipas, Ford's sales analyst.

G.M.'s chief sales analyst, Paul Ballew, said the company's market share for light vehicles reached 29 percent last month.

George Pipas, Ford's top sales analyst, said: "We absolutely recognize the issue, the concern and the problem."