Auto sales rise across the board but still disappoint
Big Three, Germans and Koreans all up; Japanese lag a bit
By William Spain, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Sales of new cars continued rebounding off their depths of 2009 with the Big Three U.S. auto makers on Thursday all posting hefty sales increases for June, even as they unexpectedly slipped sequentially from May.
The upscale European marques also rose for the month, with Daimler AG, BMW and Porsche reporting gains. Korean car makers Hyundai and Kia also saw sales rise.
While also up, Japanese car companies were lagging the pack with Toyota and Honda recording single-digit increases year-over-year. Toyota's passenger car sales declined.
"It was disappointing," said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends for TrueCar.com. "June is typically a great month."
He chalked up the sequential downturn to consumer nervousness sparked largely by "volatility in the financial markets and uncertainty around macroeconomic conditions," not that the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the most closely correlated indicators of new car sales.
"And the stock market's performance in June did not help," Toprak said.
According to Autodata, U.S. auto sales fell about 4.7% sequentially to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11.08 million in June from 11.63 million in May - the lowest rate since February.
Economists had expected sales to fall to an annual rate of 11.3 million.
General Motors reported a 10.7% increase in total vehicle sales for June, with the No. 1 U.S. car maker's four key brands surging 36% in terms of combined units.
Marking the sixth straight month in which it has tallied sales increases, Detroit-based GM said its four brands -- Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac -- moved 194,828 units in the United States.
Sea of red in stocksAfter a brutal second quarter, stocks started the third on a dismal note as weak U.S. manufacturing and employment data kick key indexes down even further, ahead of the keenly awaited nonfarm-payrolls report on Friday.
For the year, the company has sold slightly fewer than 1.7 million vehicles, up 32% over the same period in 2009. Total sales for the latest month rose to 195,380 vehicles from 176,571 as discontinued brands like Hummer and Pontiac slumped.
Among the hottest categories were full-size pickups, up 27% for the month, and crossovers, some of which climbed by triple-digit percentage rates.
Large pickup truck sales held the key to June's sales increase, the company said.
"As companies continue to invest in their businesses, we expect this segment to continue to recover," said Don Johnson, GM's vice president of U.S. sales operations, in the sales report. "We think the release of some pent-up demand in the pickup market is an indication that a fundamental part of the U.S. economy is gradually strengthening."
At Ford Motor Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!f/quotes/nls/f (F 10.57, +0.49, +4.86%) , total sales came in at 175,895, an increase of 13.3% with its Ford and Mercury marques offsetting declines at Lincoln and Volvo. Excluding Volvo, the company said sales would have risen 15.4%.
The company said that its new 2011 F-Series Super Duty and Mustang models are off to good starts, with rises of 58% and 37%, respectively.
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