DETROIT (Bloomberg) — Ford Motor Co., the only major domestic automaker to avoid bankruptcy, and Nissan Motor Co. reported US sales for May that fell less than analysts' estimates.

Ford deliveries including the Volvo brand slid to 161,531 vehicles, the Dearborn, Michigan-based company said in a statement today. Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker, said sales dropped 33 percent to 67,489.

The results for Ford and Nissan led off industry sales reports for May, a month shadowed by the recession, Chrysler's Chapter 11 filing on April 30 and General Motors Corp.'s countdown to its request for court protection on Monday.

"The American public is now paying attention to Ford," said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. "People want a hero in all this, and Ford is becoming that hero. It's the American company that made it."

Analysts expected Ford to say sales fell 29 percent, the average of five estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Nissan's decline was projected to be 37 percent, based on three estimates.

GM's sales probably tumbled 37 percent last month, based on the survey of five analysts, while Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler likely plunged 51 percent. The industry's seasonally adjusted sales rate tumbled to 9.2 million in May from 14.2 million a year earlier, based on seven analysts' estimates. That would be a fifth straight month at fewer than 10 million units, the deepest slump in 33 years of Bloomberg data. Annual sales averaged 16.8 million this decade through 2007 before plummeting to 13.2 million last year.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales probably fell 40 percent, compared with 38 percent for Honda Motor Co., according to the average of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, likely dropped 15 percent, according to auto-research firm Edmunds.com. Hyundai probably benefited from incentives and an image as a value brand, said Jesse Toprak, director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, California.

Ford's supply of unsold cars fell to 350,000, which represents a 56-day supply, less than the industry standard of 60 days. The automaker said it would increase production in the third quarter by 42,000 vehicles to meet demand.

Sales were buoyed by the Ford Fusion sedan, which rose 9.4 percent to 19,786 vehicles. The Lincoln brand posted a 2.4 percent increase in sales to 8,365. Deliveries of gasoline- electric hybrid vehicles totalled 3,906, which Ford said was the company's best month ever.Automakers got a tailwind last month when consumer confidence rose the most in six years, as measured by the sentiment index of the New York-based Conference Board research group. Fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended May 23, according to Labor Department figures released May 28.

Still, the recession kept eroding US payrolls, probably sending unemployment past nine percent for the first time since 1983, according to a Bloomberg survey of 59 economists. The Labor Department reports the May jobless rate on Friday.