New vehicle sales in the US slowed last month, automakers and analysts said on Thursday, raising concerns that the market’s recovery could be stalling after months of encouraging gains.
Sales were 14 percent higher than a year ago, the midpoint of a miserable year for the auto industry, but 11 percent lower than for May, according to the industry tracking firm Autodata. Auto sales typically fall about 3 percent from May to June each year.
“People feel maybe a little better than they did at this time last year, but their personal financial situation really hasn’t changed a lot,” said Jessica Caldwell, director of industry analysis at Edmunds.com, a Web site that tracks auto sales activity.
“And until that starts to look better, they still don’t feel comfortable going into a dealership,” she said.
ON TRACK
For the first half of the year, the industry was on pace to sell about 11.1 million vehicles nationwide, versus 10.6 million last year. Edmunds estimates full-year sales will total 11.5 million, while other forecasts have been as high as 12.5 million.
“Even getting to 11.5 is going to be a struggle,” Caldwell said, adding that Edmunds might revise its forecast lower if sales did not improve in the coming months.
Compared with May, sales were 14 percent lower last month for Toyota, 13 percent lower for General Motors, 12 percent for Chrysler and 11 percent lower for Ford Motor.
But the automakers said they remained optimistic that demand would improve in the second half of the year.
George Pipas, Ford’s chief sales analyst, said the industry’s rebound from last year’s recession was not expected to necessarily be quick or smooth.
“It certainly looks like a modest recovery, which is what we predicted and which is what we’re going to get,” Pipas said in a conference call with analysts and reporters.
Ford sales rose 13 percent last month compared with a year ago, and sales for the first half of this year by Ford’s domestic brands — Ford, Lincoln and Mercury — were up 28 percent, the largest increase for the company since 1984.
GM SALES UP
Year-over-year, GM sales were up 12 percent for last month overall and 36 percent higher excluding the four brands it had discontinued: Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Hummer.
For the first half of the year, GM’s active brands — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC — sold 12 percent more vehicles than the company sold a year ago with eight brands.
Chrysler sales rose 35 percent from June last year, though analysts said much of the increase was the result of more deliveries to business and government customers. GM said a cutback in so-called fleet sales was largely to blame for its decrease from May.
Chrysler sold 527,219 vehicles in the first half of the year, 48 percent of its full-year goal of 1.1 million.
Hyundai, which has been surging as price-conscious consumers seek less expensive but appealing alternatives to competitors’ offerings, said sales rose 35 percent last month and were on track to set a full-year record for the South Korean carmaker.
In contrast, sales fell short of expectations again at Toyota, which is still struggling to recapture some momentum after recalling nearly 9 million vehicles to fix defective accelerator pedals.
TOYOTA CONFIDENT
Toyota’s sales were up 7 percent last month from a year ago and 10 percent in the first half compared with last year.
“While we were only anticipating very modest gains in the overall economic climate, that appears to be postponed at this time,” Robert S Carter, a Toyota group vice president, said.
“We’re still confident that the gains we anticipate will occur later in the third quarter and hopefully the fourth quarter, but we haven’t seen that materialize yet,” he said.
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