This August the U.S. auto industry has posted a decline for the last month of the season, ending summer on a gloomy note. The customer demand has become to soften and that is why we have been expecting for such results. Even , which is of course a b ad sign for the automotive industry, since they are the top three automakers in U.S.. Because of this, we have lost the chance on setting a new year-to-year record sales.
Almost all the carmakers missed estimates, as the long six years’ growth for the industry appeared to have come to a halt in August. Overall industry sales plunged 4.2% to 1.51 million vehicles. Of course, carmakers like General Motors, Ford and their Japanese counterparts did their best to post gains, and Chrysler even managed to register gains though it missed estimates. The seasonally adjusted annual sales for August came in at 16.98 million. This remains down from July when it was 17.88 million vehicles. General Motors registered a decline of 5% year over year to 256,429 vehicles. Chevrolet Silverado's sales fell 5%, while brands like Buick, Chevrolet and GMC failed to impress. Rental Fleet sales dropped 34% year over year, while Cadillac' sales surged 4%. Ford also witnessed a decline in its August sales, down 8% to 214,482 units sold from the same period last year. Fleet sales dropped 10%. Deliveries of both F-Series pickups and Explorer SUV were down. Among the U.S. car brands the only one which posted gains was Chrysler, it was up 3% year over year. But still, the company missed analyst estimates of a 5% gain. Chrysler brand sales plunged 22% while Fiat sales were down 21%. Ram, Jeep and Dodge sales were robust. Retail sales amounted to 150,153 units in August whereas fleet sales were 46,603 units.
Toyota sales dropped 5% in August to 213,125 vehicles, this was reasoned more because of a high decline in deliveries of Corolla, Camry and Prius cars. Toyota brand sales were down 5%. Lexus' sales declined 8% during the month.
