A Record-Breaking Motor Sales Month

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have posted double-digit US sales gains for July. Toyota and Nissan North America also posted their best sales month in the United States.

DaimlerChrysler, including Mercedes-Benz, sold 260,945 units in July, a boost of 25.1 per cent for the month. Year-to-date, the car manufacturer has sold 1,547,536 vehicles, up 6.9 per cent from the same period in 2004.

GM’s July sales rose 15.2 per cent, boosted by the GM Employee Discount for Everyone incentive programme said the company. Its US sales totaled 524,218 vehicles in July compared with 454,963 in July last year. GM has sold 2,844,839 vehicles to date, a 4.3 per cent increase from the same time last year.

Paul Ballew, GM’s chief sales analyst, said 71 per cent of retail sales in July came from trucks, and he predicted that the company would achieve a market share of 27 per cent for the year.

Employee pricing gave Ford Motor sales a much-needed 28.5 per cent increase for the month and triggered record monthly sales for the Ford F-series pickup. Ford sold 126,905 F-series last month, well above its previous record of 102,424 in October 2001. Ford numbers include Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo, but not Mazda. Sales for Mazda, of which Ford is a partial owner, also benefited in July, climbing 5.7 per cent from last July.

Toyota, American Honda Motor Co, Nissan, BMW and Porsche all posted sales increase for the month. However, not every manufacturer celebrated. Volkswagen’s US car sales declined 12.0 per cent to 28,857 units in July. That brought sales for the first seven months to 164,972 units, down 16.5 per cent. Isuzu and Mitsubishi continued their downward trajectories, although Mitsubishi managed to keep its fall within single digits. Mitsubishi sold 10,376 vehicles, a fall of 7.3 per cent, while Isuzu sold only 845 vehicles in July, a 69.3 per cent drop from the same month last year.