Ford Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp posted stronger-than-expected growth in US auto sales last month, but most manufacturers on Friday reported gains below expectations as several months of strong demand had pushed optimism too high.
Ford’s sales were up 10 percent at 212,236, with Toyota’s up 12 percent at 215,802 due to strong demand for their sports utility vehicles as well as offering larger discounts.
Industry sales were up 9 percent from last year to 1,433,016 vehicles, but that still fell short of the 11 percent gain analysts polled by Reuters had expected.
Toyota was the No. 2 seller last month, edging past Ford, which had held that spot for the first half of this year and for last year overall. General Motors Co remained in top place.
Incentives played a strong role in sales last month.
Honda Motor Co was the only one of the top car companies to cut incentives from June to last month, research firm J.D. Power said. Honda’s sales last month tumbled 8 percent to 135,908.
Average industry discounts last month rose slightly to just over US$3,000 per vehicle, with Ford incentives averaging close to US$3,919. Industry incentives were the highest since 2010, said Larry Dominique, president of research firm ALG.
General Motors, Nissan Motor Co, Chrysler Group LLC and the Hyundai-Kia Group all reported higher sales last month that still failed to meet analysts’ expectations. The sales were Hyundai’s best for July ever, while General Motors, Ford and Chrysler saw their strongest results for the month since before the 2008 recession.
General Motors said last month’s sales were up 9 percent at 256,160. Also reporting increases were Chrysler, up 20 percent at 167,667; Nissan, up 11 percent at 121,452; and Hyundai-Kia, up 4 percent at 119,320.
The Volkswagen Group, which includes Audi and Porsche, said sales fell 6 percent to 49,469.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said growth slowed further than expected as the annualized sales rate in the month fell to 16.48 million vehicles according to research firm Autodata, from 17 million in June. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected the annualized rate in July to ease slightly to 16.7 million.
With generous credit terms drawing buyers to more expensive vehicles, transaction prices last month remained firm, averaging US$32,556 per vehicle, Kelley Blue Book said.
Ford said average prices on its full-size F-Series pickups topped US$40,000, while General Motors’ Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra’s average prices were close to US$39,000.
Sales growth of full-size pickup trucks, a bellwether for the US economy, slowed last month.
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