Sales for U.S. vehicles mostly made gains in July thanks to good price points and discount programs.
Shoppers love discounts, even when it comes to purchasing their next car. Carmakers enjoyed an uptick in July, many posting double digit gains including Toyota, Ford, Nissan and Chrysler.
American manufacturers got the most benefit from the price-cutting strategy. Although General Motors only showed a 9 percent boost in sales for July, it can be considered a win for a company dealing with the largest-ever recall in its history, as this previous Tech Times article points out.
Analysts had already made their own optimistic predictions about car sales that seemed pretty much in line with results. Their forecasts also had much to do with the deep discounts carmakers offered customers this summer. They predicted the best July sales since 2006, according to a recent report. Across the industry, these analysts expected about an 11 percent increase in sales for autombiles.
Summer is the time when most carmakers offer deep discounts to alleviate leftover inventory. However, the discounts in July were more appealing than usual.
Incentives rose by 8 percent, roughly $216 per automobile, over last July, according to reports citing expert opinions. The incentives averaged nearly $2,800 per car, which was the highest since August 2010.
Large and midsize SUVs did not top the list for the 20 best selling cars, despite a flurry of buying in July, as one report made note of recently. Those spots were reserved for family cars and full size pickup trucks. There were some crossovers that made the list, though.
As per the list of top sellers, Ford F-series pickup sold 63,240, up 4.8 percent; Chevrolet Silverado pickup 42,097, unchanged; Toyota Camry 39,888, up 14.7 percent; Ram pickup 35,621, up 13.8 percent; Honda Accord 35,073, up 11.3 percent; Toyota Corolla 30,833, up 26 percent; Honda Civic 30,038, down 7.3 percent; Honda CR-V SUV - 28,522, up 4.8 pecent; Toyota RAV4 SUV 26,779, up 37.1 pecent; Nissan Altima 26,654, down 9.8 percent; Ford Escape SUV 26,558, up 18.9 percent; Chevrolet Equinox SUV 25,321, up 36.8 percent; Ford Fusion 23,942, up 16.7 percent; Hyundai Sonata 22,577, up 19.4 percent; Hyundai Elantra 22,213, down 7.3 pecent; Chevrolet Cruze 20,926, down 17.8 percent; Toyota Prius 20,675, down 11.2 percent; Ford Explorer SUV 19,006, up 34.9 pecent; Ford Focus 17,724, up 5.7 pecent; and Nissan Sentra sold 17,579, up 53.7 percent.
Sales at German company Volkswagen and Japanese company Honda fell. Several industry watchers noted the fairness in forecasts.
"Given the strength we saw over the last several months, the industry came back down at a little bit of a quicker pace than perhaps we had originally anticipated," said one such analyst from Kelley's Blue Book. "I wouldn't say the industry missed the mark too egregiously."
Generous credit options were also attributed to higher volume of sales.
