U.S. new-car sales have been improving in July compared with the previous two months but remain below the rate seen earlier in the year, research firm J.D. Power and Associates said today. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Based on data from 8,900 dealers, the annual sales rate in the retail part of the market is projected to be 9.8 million vehicles this month, up from 9.3 million in May and June when there was a shortage of vehicles made in Japan after the March 11 earthquake, the firm said in a statement.
From January to April, the annual sales rate on a retail basis ranged from 10.2 million to 11.1 million. The SAAR for the total industry, including fleet sales, ranged from 12.6 million to 13.5 million.
The J.D. Power report shows an industry starting to regain the momentum it had earlier in the year, when the SAAR topped 13 million in consecutive months for the first time since early 2008. It also indicates an easing of the acute inventory shortage that followed the earthquake.
J.D. Power projects the total industry SAAR for July to be 11.9 million, up from May’s 11.8 million and June’s 11.4 million.
“While July’s selling rate is slated to finish higher than June, consumers continue to face obstacles in their willingness and ability to purchase a new vehicle,” said Jeff Schuster, J.D. Power’s executive director of global forecasting.
“The ongoing debate regarding the debt ceiling and stagnant economy are creating added pressure on top of a generally weaker vehicle sales environment,” he said in the statement.
Automakers are scheduled to report July’s U.S. sales on Aug. 2.
J.D. Power estimates retail new-car sales of 913,900 vehicles in July. Total light-vehicle sales, including fleet sales, are expected to be 1.09 million.
Retail light-vehicle sales in the second half of the year are expected to outpace those in the first half, with an annual selling rate of 10.7 million vehicles, up from 10.3 million, J.D. Power said. Including fleet sales, the sales rate is expected to rise to 13.2 million from 12.5 million.
J.D. Power said it still expected overall light-vehicle sales this year of 12.9 million, which would be up from 11.6 million in 2010, when the industry was climbing back from the lowest demand in almost three decades.
The research firm said it expected light-vehicle production in North America to rise 9 percent this year, with the pace picking up from the first half’s increase of 8 percent.
