Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reported a slight gain of 0.3 percent.
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The reports underscored that demand is starting to wane, with automakers now projecting a long sales plateau at a healthy level instead of the robust growth that has helped the US economy.
Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep brand is driving showroom traffic and fueling the company’s USA momentum.
GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, remained optimistic thanks to a five percent year-over-year gain in retail sales – cars sold to customers at dealerships – led by its Chevrolet, GMC and Buick brands.
GM is exiting the fleet sales field and said retail sales to individual customers climbed 5% to 236,235 units on increases for its flagship Chevrolet brand, GMC, Buick and Cadillac. Both the Jeep and Ram Truck brands were up 5%. But retail sales fell 2% to 155,885 while fleet sales shot up 22% to 22,842.
– Nissan reported a 1.2 percent increase, still short of the projection.
“Trucks and vans continue to be market strengths for Ford”, said Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service.
“Zero percent financing deals were much more common past year summer than they are now: 12.9% of new vehicle loans in July of 2015 were 0%, while only 10.2% of loans were zero percent this July”, she said.
For the year to date, GM’s total sales are down 4% and retail sales are up 1.9%.
GM ended July with a 66-day supply of vehicles, McNeil noted.
Ford sold 216,479 total vehicles last month.
Mark LaNeve, Ford’s vice president of US sales and marketing, said General Motors started off the month with aggressive incentives on its pickups and a number of other models – including small and midsize crossovers – but said incentives for Fiat Chrysler’s Ram brand were about the same as usual. Passenger cars, such as sedans and hatchbacks, were at 50 percent of the USA market in 2010.
Ford recorded its best July van sales since 1978, with 20,236 sold.
Nissan Motor Co. reported Tuesday that sales rose 1.2% to 132,475 vehicles – a July record. GM shares fell 4% to $30.04 at 10:11 a.m., Ford shares fell 3.5% to $12.05 and Fiat Chrysler declined 4% to $6.05.
“The sky isn’t falling just yet, but we are on an unhealthy path”, he said. In the first six months of last year, for example, sales were up 4 percent, or more than double the pace of this year.
Ford’s average transaction price rose by $1,600 per vehicle vs. a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted annual selling rate for July is projected to come in at 17.6 million cars and light trucks, little changed from July 2015’s 17.55 million rate and an increase from June’s 16.68 million, a Bloomberg survey of analysts found.
Auto sales over the previous year and a half have soared due to pent-up demand from the recession.
“The growth might not be as significant as in recent years, but it’s still growth nonetheless”, she said.
Trucks, crossovers and SUVs are expected to once again lead sales, as they have for the past few years. Plus, as Edmunds.com notes, more new vehicles were leased in the first half of 2016 than during the first half of any other year in history.
“This will be a historic year for USA autos, with 2016 either being the first decline since 2009 or a record sales year that nudges past 2015 – it is that close at this stage and could go either way”, Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC Automotive, said in a statement.
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GM today estimated the light-vehicle SAAR for July at 17.9 million.
