Obama Administration Loves Limos, Sales Slide, And Ford Pickups Are Less Manly

1st Gear: In the month of May, Ford sold more V6 F-150 pickups than they sold V8-engined trucks — to the tune of 55% to 45%. Mike Levine of PickupTrucks.com breaks it down even further, letting us know that 41% of the automaker's retail sales were of EcoBoost engines. Is this the first time V6-engined F-Series pickups have beaten their bigger competitors? We don't know and haven't heard back from Ford PR folks yet to see if it's the case. What we can say is the small-displacement adoption in Ford's big trucks is likely coming from gas prices up more than a dollar higher than last year's prices.

2nd Gear: Speaking of sales — May auto sales slid 4% on rising fuel prices and tighter vehicle supplies. Also, Automakers reduced spending on incentives for U.S. customers in May by 19% to an average $2,303 per vehicle, the lowest in more than half a decade, according to Autodata Corp. Ford average spending on discounts and promotions declined 20% from a year earlier to $2,432, the Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based researcher said yesterday. General Motors Co. reduced incentives by $648, or 17% from a year earlier, to an estimated $3,085 per vehicle. Chrysler Group LLC lowered spending 18% to $3,002. Industrywide light-vehicle sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11.8 million in May, Autodata said, the lowest since September and trailing the 12.1 million pace that was the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. GM, the largest U.S. automaker, said "dramatic" cuts to incentives led some buyers to defer purchases during the month. Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker, reduced spending $515, or 27%, to an estimated $1,408 per unit, Autodata said. Honda, the second-largest Japanese automaker by U.S. sales, lowered incentives to $1,513, 29% less than a year earlier. Nissan reduced discounts by 28% to $2,247.

3rd Gear: The number of limousines owned by the U.S. government increased by 73% during the first two years of the Obama administration, according to a new report by iWatch news. An analysis of General Services Administration data reveals the federal fleet has increased from 238 limos in 2008 — the last year of the Bush Administration — to 412 limos in 2010. Much of the increase was recorded in the State Department under Hillary Clinton. For its part, the Obama administration said the increased number of limousines in the federal fleet reflects "an enhanced effort to protect diplomats and other government officials in a dangerous world."

4th Gear: A Seattle attorney is accused of keying and leaving notes on cars that were not parked properly at a downtown Seattle parking garage. Ronald Clarke Mattson, 63, is charged with malicious mischief after security officials at Columbia Center allegedly caught him keying a car during a sting operation. According to a probable cause document, the first incident happened March 9 when Susan Wassell, who is also an attorney, parked her car with the wheels over the lines designating her parking spot. When she returned, she found a note stating "Take some parking lessons you idiot!" She later discovered her car had been keyed. Wassell says she does not know Mattson. We don't know him either, but we do know he's a complete asshole and should be strung up, like, now.

5th Gear: Nissan, aiming to be the world's largest seller of electric cars, expects to deliver as many as 12,000 battery-powered Leaf hatchbacks to U.S. customers this year as orders are confirmed and production quickens. Japan's second-largest carmaker sold 1,142 Leafs in the U.S. last month, the most since it began shipping them in December. Deliveries should continue at that pace, totaling between 10,000 and 12,000 by the end of the year, Al Castignetti, Nissan's vice president of U.S. sales, said in an interview yesterday. To put it in the perspective of a fight with another automaker, Chevy only sold 481 Volts during this same month. Nissan, earthquake, large ocean between sales point and manufacturing point, and Godzilla. Chevy, no earthquake, no large ocean, and no large lizard. What's up with that?

6th Gear: Speaking of electric cars, Tesla says the new Model S sedan is on schedule for launch in mid-2012. Production prototypes will be built in the third quarter of 2011 for testing, and Tesla holds 4,600 reservations for the Model S which it will satisfy in the first year of production. A Model X crossover based on the same platform will debut at the end of 2013, and a Tesla-built replacement for the Lotus Elise-based Tesla Roadster is possible in three years time.

Reverse:

⏎ No, the new Dodge Viper did not show up in Chrysler's ordering system. [Allpar]

⏎ Kid Rock to make surprise announcement this morning. [ClickOnDetroit]

⏎ Spyker's CFO steps down just as Saab gets back up. [Reuters]

⏎ Fiat will make gearboxes in China. All your auto manufacturing is belong to them. [Bloomberg]

⏎ Ford using robots with giant freakin' lasers on them! [LeftLaneNews]

⏎ Mikhail Gorbachev's MB 560SEL is up for sale on eBay Motors. [eBay]

The 32-year-old race car driver Bruce McLaren dies in a crash while testing an experimental car of his own design at a track in Goodwood, England on this day in 1970. [History]

Got tips for our editors? Want to anonymously dish some dirt on a competitor? Know something about a secret car? Email us at tips@jalopnik.com.

Click here for the Opposite Lock or Tips forums. Want a more "blog-like" look? Click the button up top next to "Top Stories."

Want even more Jalopnik? Want to know which of your friends read us? "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.