Sales for light vehicles in the United States have dipped by 2.9 per cent in June on the back of five previous months of sales decline across the industry.
Perhaps most telling is that, last month, new car sales declined by 14 per cent despite rising incentives as automakers tried to off-load inventories. By comparison, deliveries of trucks remain strong, rising by 4.2 per cent compared to the same month last year.
Interestingly, Automotive News notes that Toyota, Nissan and Honda recorded increased sales in June, while Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles suffered sales declines of 5.1, 4.7 and 7 per cent respectively.
Discussing the drop, Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell said: “While six straight months of sales declines sounds troubling, June is sandwiched between two major holiday sales events, which makes it a bit of a gloomy month historically.”
Even so, the figures definitely show a trend for light-vehicles, especially considering that incentives actually rose by 9.7 per cent in June, to $3,550.
On the back of these results, the seasonally adjusted sales rate now sits at 16.54 million, almost 1 million less than the 17.55 million vehicles sold in the U.S. last year.
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