The American Family Association says it's ending its controversial boycott of Ford Motor Company after two years, saying that its goals were met and that the company has suffered for its support for gay organizations.

The boycott started two years ago, when the AFA called for its members to stop spending money with Ford and its brands, which include Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. The association, which cites religious and moral principles for its anti-gay stance, said a Ford boycott would force the company to disavow contributions to gay groups like the Human Rights Campaign, which Ford had supported.

The AFA declared victory -- but Joe LaMuraglia, our colleague and the founder of Gaywheels.com, calls the AFA's rationale for the end of the boycott "laughable."

"AFA's claim that they were responsible for Ford's sales decline is so laughable that I don't know what to say," LaMuraglia blogged on his site, which informs users on the gay-friendly status of various automakers. "It is akin to me taking responsibility for all of Saturn's sales growth because they sponsored us at a Gay Pride event. Their boycott may not have helped Ford but it was by no means the primary reason they've fallen on hard times."

LaMuraglia said that the Ford ad cuts were a result of big losses, not political pressure, and cited a letter from Ford public relations on the matter that said the company was "committed to treating everyone fairly and with respect, including our dealers, customers and employees....Difficult business conditions in recent years have reduced our overall spending across the board."

What triggered it all? LaMuraglia says it may have been Ford's relationship with the HRC and a promotion that directly linked the company to the organization. "As a gay man, I thought the idea was great. They were clearly supporting our community," he says. "As a marketing professional, I thought it was risky move that clearly hit the nerve of the AFA. All they saw was that Ford supported HRC and HRC = gay marriage. Can you say controversial topic?"

Speaking of controversy, we want to know what you think of the role of auto companies in supporting gay causes - but we strongly recommend you keep the discussion civil, otherwise we'll have to block you, as the commercial goes. Talk to us in a comment below.

As part of the new effort to trim costs that Chrysler announced last Friday, it plans to close its Pacifica Advanced Product Design Center in California, which has been the source of several of the company's concept vehicles in recent years.

"Increasingly, we are leveraging resources worldwide, forming new joint ventures and alliances and consolidating operations in order to better achieve global balance and manage fixed costs," Chrysler said in a statement.

"As such, we are closing the Pacifica Advance Product Design Center, consolidating the Advance Design function in Auburn Hills. Advance Design remains an integral part of our future design efforts, led by Trevor Creed, Senior Vice President -- Design.

"These changes set the stage for Chrysler's future global growth efforts, which also include our intent to establish global expertise in design, engineering and sourcing through centers of excellence. These actions will help the Company meet its long-term globalization goals," the company said.

Despite the impending shutdown of the Pacifica studio, Chrysler officials insist they have adequate resources to finance the company's future product plan, despite the pressures created by the economic slowdown and the heavy financial losses in 2006 and 2007. Since the private equity firm of Cerberus Capital Management now owns Chrysler, it no longer has to disclose financial data. However, the automaker is expected to post more losses this year because of weak sales and the ongoing cost of restructuring the company.--Joe Szczesny

Pack up the lutefisk (maybe in a new XC60 crossover) and leave the keys to the PAG building behind--Volvo's calling it quits in California and heading back to New Jersey.

Ford's upscale brand--likely the last Ford European brand left in the company, once Jaguar and Land Rover are finally sold to Tata this month--is setting its sights for Rockleigh, N.J., where it has a customer service center.

Before the Swedish brand was absorbed into Ford's old Premier Automotive Group (PAG), Volvo had its headquarters in the Garden State. But the grand Ford plan under former CEO Jac Nasser was to combine Volvo, Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover (along with office building cohorts Mazda) to create a new southern California power base for the company.

Aston Martin was the first to vacate--and with Jaguar Land Rover's imminent sale to the Indian concern, it was considered a given that Volvo would move its base back to the East Coast, closer to the company's European time zone and a bigger slice of its American buyers.

"We have evaluated the situation in the U.S. market and decided to consolidate our headquarters operations in one location," said Gerry Keaney, senior vice president of Marketing, Sales & Service for Volvo Car Corporation. "It is a natural choice to go back to Volvo Cars' original location in New Jersey as we already have major operations and facilities there."

In the move back, Volvo will also make Doug Speck its new CEO for North America. He replaces Anne Belec, who is now Ford's director of global marketing and will move to Dearborn to report to Jim Farley.

Nissan kicked off the Geneva show this morning with its GT-R super sports car. Even though the stunning, long-anticipated sports car was unveiled in Tokyo and shown at L.A. and Detroit, its European debut attracted as much attention. Carlos Tavares, executive vice president of Nissan Motor Corp, presented the car together with the new Murano and the Pivo2 concept, also new for Europe.

Tavares was happy to report that Nissan continues to build momentum worldwide, with global sales for fiscal year 2007 surpassing 3.7 million units, a new record. Europe contributed substantially to the increase, while sales in Russia are now over 12,000 units — ten times what they were in 2003.

The Qashqai is such an unexpected success (130,000 sales in 2007) that Nissan had to add a third shift at the plant in Great Britain to meet demand.

Nissan expects much of the new Murano that is on sale in more than 80 markets around the world. The model is exceeding projections especially in the U.S., where sales have been 50 percent higher than originally predicted for the first-generation Murano.—Henny Hemmes

Sales of new vehicles dropped seven percent in February and the pain was widespread as General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and BMW all reported declines in sales.

Mitsubishi, Kia and Hyundai and Audi were on the losing end of sales, too--but Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen (thanks to the Rabbit), and Mazda eked out sales gains despite the low seasonally-adjusted sales rate of roughly 15.3 million units, which was at the lower end of most forecasts.

“It was a somewhat difficult month for the industry,” said Toyota’s Irv Miller. “Traffic was soft.”

The biggest losers were Chrysler and GM. Chrysler reported its sales dropped 14 percent, while GM said its sales dropped 13 percent. Both companies announced significant new incentive plans to stimulate sales during March. Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of sales, service and marketing, said GM will rev up its annual “March Madness” incentives to accompany its sponsorship of NCAA playoffs, while Chrysler announced plans for a new zero-percent financing campaign.

LaNeve also emphasized that GM believed the drop in sales was only temporary.

“Our new launch vehicles, including the award-winning Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac CTS, had a sensational month, as did the Chevrolet Cobalt, Saturn Aura, and the Pontiac G6....Most importantly, despite tough market conditions, we anticipate our total retail vehicle sales share to have remained flat for the first two months of the year compared to 2007,” he said.

Other carmakers also said consumers were moving towards smaller vehicles.

Toyota, meanwhile, reported its sales dropped 6.3 percent during February while the Lexus Division reported a 9.3-percent drop in sales from year ago levels. One eye-catching number from Toyota was the 14.5-percent decline in Prius sales. Executives insisted that Prius sales are still healthy and the decline was due, in part to a difficult month-to month comparison. They also noted the sales of the Camry hybrid increased last month, as did those of the Tundra.

Honda sales were essentially flat during February as the Japanese automaker posted a gain of less than 1 percent.

Nissan reported a 2.9-percent drop.

Chrysler reported its total sales dropped to just over 150,000 units during February. Sales were paced by the Dodge Caliber, which has hardly been a star performer since its introduction last year. Chrysler vice chairman Jim Press, however, insisted there were grounds for optimism despite the woeful numbers.

“While the auto industry is experiencing the impact of slow economic growth, Chrysler LLC February results reflect progress within each brand,” Press said. “The positive numbers for Dodge cars, the all-new Chrysler Town & Country and the Jeep Patriot prove our renewed focus on consumer feedback, such as the demand for good fuel economy, is resonating -- and translating into sales of our New Day Value Packages."

Ford sales also dropped 7 percent. But Ford officials said almost all of the decline was due to a drop in fleet sales. Jim Farley, the executive now responsible for Ford sales and marketing, also said the company’s retail sales continued to show promise. The fact the new Ford Focus has done exceptionally well since its introduction bodes well for Ford’s strategy of putting more small cars into the market, he said. Ford’s market share is now tracking in the upper range of the company’s basic guidance thanks to a strong showing in passenger cars, he also noted.

“We have escalated some incentives in some regions. But overall our spending was lower than last year,” Farley said.