After a steep May decline and modest growth in June, which fell below expectations, U.S. auto sales expansion flatlined in July 2016, suggesting the market is poised for a slower second half than the early part of the year projected.
New vehicle sales volume rose less than 1 percent in July 2016, a year-over-year improvement equal to roughly 11,000 sales.
There were a number of significant improvements. July 2016 was the best July ever for American Honda, for example, as sales jumped 6 percent to 139,125 at the Honda brand, overcoming another Acura decline. Buick, up 10 percent last month, ended the January-July period with its best start to the year since 2005. The only brands with superior growth rates in July were smaller outlets: Smart, Volvo, and Scion.
Mixed in with these gains, however, were double-digit percentage losses from a bundle of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles brands: Maserati, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Dodge.
Additionally, Chrysler sales fell 4 percent. FCA’s corrected sales reporting methods mean prior monthly tallies don’t mesh with July’s numbers, but the automaker now says sales are up 4 percent through seven months.
General Motors was July’s top-selling automaker, Ford led all brands, the F-Series led the pickup truck sector and outsold all other vehicle lines, the Honda CR-V was America’s top-selling utility vehicle, and the Toyota Camry led all passenger cars.
| Auto Brand | July 2016 | July 2015 | % Change | 2016 YTD | 2015 YTD | % Change |
|
Acura
|
13,674 | 14,915 | -8.3% | 92,668 | 102,002 | -9.2% |
|
Alfa Romeo
|
43 | 49 | -12.2% | 338 | 354 | -4.5% |
|
Audi
|
18,364 | 17,654 | 4.0% | 115,298 | 111,269 | 3.6% |
|
BMW
|
25,777 | 26,970 | -4.4% | 179,213 | 195,593 | -8.4% |
|
Buick
|
22,960 | 20,791 | 10.4% | 127,167 | 127,105 | 0.0% |
|
Cadillac
|
14,341 | 14,154 | 1.3% | 87,572 | 95,053 | -7.9% |
|
Chevrolet
|
178,820 | 188,790 | -5.3% | 1,185,710 | 1,242,409 | -4.6% |
|
Chrysler
|
19,095 | 19,907 | -4.1% | 148,398 | 191,079 | -22.3% |
|
Dodge
|
35,520 | 39,492 | -10.1% | 311,658 | 303,701 | 2.6% |
|
Fiat
|
2,754 | 3,196 | -13.8% | 19,346 | 23,118 | -16.3% |
| Ford | 206,170 | 212,478 | -3.0% | 1,498,043 | 1,453,685 | 3.1% |
|
GMC
|
51,137 | 48,777 | 4.8% | 305,724 | 313,490 | -2.5% |
|
Honda
|
139,125 | 131,409 | 5.9% | 852,486 | 797,323 | 6.9% |
|
Hyundai
|
75,003 | 71,013 | 5.6% | 449,063 | 442,163 | 1.6% |
|
Infiniti
|
9,945 | 10,433 | -4.7% | 74,923 | 74,713 | 0.3% |
|
Jaguar
|
3,398 | 1,242 | 174% | 14,389 | 9,078 | 58.5% |
|
Jeep
|
79,246 | 75,459 | 5.0% | 543,714 | 476,101 | 14.2% |
|
Kia
|
59,969 | 56,311 | 6.5% | 388,296 | 367,263 | 5.7% |
|
Land Rover
|
6,075 | 5,011 | 21.2% | 42,723 | 37,323 | 14.5% |
|
Lexus
|
27,890 | 29,816 | -6.5% | 179,454 | 188,664 | -4.9% |
|
Lincoln
|
9,098 | 9,536 | -4.6% | 62,395 | 56,648 | 10.1% |
|
Maserati
|
811 | 957 | -15.3% | 6,013 | 6,261 | -4.0% |
|
Mazda
|
27,915 | 27,157 | 2.8% | 173,269 | 186,152 | -6.9% |
|
Mercedes-Benz °
|
28,523 | 27,526 | 3.6% | 191,300 | 192,492 | -0.6% |
|
Mercedes-Benz Vans °
|
3,272 | 2,163 | 51.3% | 19,034 | 15,697 | 21.3% |
|
Total Mercedes-Benz °
|
31,795 | 29,689 | 7.1% | 210,334 | 208,189 | 1.0% |
|
Mini
|
4,774 | 5,191 | -8.0% | 29,918 | 35,451 | -15.6% |
|
Mitsubishi
|
7,890 | 7,868 | 0.3% | 59,824 | 57,412 | 4.2% |
|
Nissan
|
122,530 | 120,439 | 1.7% | 855,666 | 792,642 | 8.0% |
|
Porsche
|
3,878 | 4,730 | -18.0% | 30,586 | 29,868 | 2.4% |
|
Ram
|
44,069 | 42,021 | 4.9% | 302,082 | 274,924 | 9.9% |
|
Scion
|
6,423 | 3,865 | 66.2% | 44,143 | 28,796 | 53.3% |
|
Smart
|
493 | 441 | 11.8% | 3,086 | 4,065 | -24.1% |
|
Subaru
|
52,093 | 50,517 | 3.1% | 331,551 | 322,935 | 2.7% |
|
Toyota
|
179,920 | 183,500 | -2.0% | 1,188,436 | 1,231,161 | -3.5% |
|
Volkswagen
|
28,758 | 31,300 | -8.1% | 177,772 | 205,742 | -13.6% |
|
Volvo
|
8,584 | 5,619 | 52.8% | 45,238 | 34,985 | 29.3% |
|
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BMW-Mini
|
30,551 | 32,161 | -5.0% | 209,131 | 231,044 | -9.5% |
|
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
|
180,727 | 180,124 | 0.3% | 1,325,536 | 1,269,277 | 4.4% |
|
Daimler AG
|
32,288 | 30,130 | 7.2% | 213,420 | 212,254 | 0.5% |
|
Ford Motor Co.
|
215,268 | 222,014 | -3.0% | 1,560,438 | 1,510,333 | 3.3% |
|
General Motors
|
267,258 | 272,512 | -1.9% | 1,706,173 | 1,778,057 | -4.0% |
|
Honda Motor Co.
|
152,799 | 146,324 | 4.4% | 945,154 | 899,325 | 5.1% |
|
Hyundai-Kia
|
134,972 | 127,324 | 6.0% | 837,359 | 809,426 | 3.5% |
|
Jaguar-Land Rover
|
9,473 | 6,253 | 51.5% | 57,112 | 46,401 | 23.1% |
|
Nissan Motor Co.
|
132,475 | 130,872 | 1.2% | 930,589 | 867,355 | 7.3% |
|
Toyota Motor Corp.
|
214,233 | 217,181 | -1.4% | 1,412,033 | 1,448,621 | -2.5% |
|
Volkswagen Group *
|
47,287 | 49,162 | -3.8% | 293,854 | 318,468 | -7.7% |
|
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Industry Total †
|
1,522,144
|
1,511,261
|
0.7%
|
10,167,064
|
10,032,521
|
1.3% |
Source: Manufacturers
[Image Source: General Motors]
* Volkswagen Group includes sales figures for Audi, Bentley, Porsche, and Volkswagen brands
° Mercedes-Benz USA releases sales figures for the Mercedes-Benz brand in the conventional sense, vans excluded, as well as totals for the Metris and Sprinter vans. The complete picture is included here.
† Industry total takes into account WSJ figures/estimates for brands such as Tesla (3,300 July units) and other low-volume, high-priced manufacturers. Numbers upated at 12:22 PM ET on August 3, 2016, with final Jaguar-Land Rover figures.
[Image: General Motors]
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
“Maserati, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Dodge”
Dodge got Italian disease.
Capone would disagree.
Dodge was positive. Maybe you meant Chrysler?
Dodge is losing the Caravan and Dart this coming year, so we should expect them down going forward.
All that’s left is the ancient Journey, unknown Durango and Charger/Challenger. That’s not enough to sustain a make.
It definitely seems like the plan is to close Dodge down.
The Durango gets replaced by a 3-row Jeep, the Journey doesn’t get replaced by anything, and the Charger/Challenger just roll on unchanged through 2020 when the brand dies.
You just broke BTSR’s heart.
Doing my part to help…
Tesla:
July = ~2900
YTD = ~21930
“http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/”
I don’t know how they can be guiding for 90k deliveries this year.
Those figures are at odds with Tesla’s estimates, which are just under 2K/week. Tesla has scheduled a press conference in 24 hours, so we should have more data soon.
It’s possible we’re looking at USA vs INTL standards.
This is probably true. But is Tesla really selling more than half of their cars overseas?
Perhaps a CEO overpromising and then shrugging when under-delivering?
But absolutely NO way that would happen in America.
No. Yamahog is right. The 2K/week goal is global.
If Musk is overpromising / underdelivering, then I want more of that from my CEO and stock holdings. TSLA is worth 14X what it IPO’d at 5 years ago.
Kia alone is ahead of Chrysler + Dodge + Fiat + Alfa + Maserati. That has to hurt. Too many makes, FCA – Plymouth and Eagle need company.
Interesting that Mazda outgrew the market and gained market share. I recall some of the Mazda haters on this site crowing about a sales decline a few months ago, now strangely quiet!
I’m one of them. Mazda’s ‘great cars’ have perpetually earned them less than 2% market share since the Dawn of Time.
And Mazda is heading for slightly lower sales in 2016 than in 2015 and possibly 2014.
I’ll give them this: they’re steady.
Yes you are, so well done for correctly self identifying. Mazda are steady and we still have 5/12th of the year left so we will see. Most companies have had similar market shares for years. Honda is typically around 10%, Ford around 15% etc. It is only brands like Subaru and Jeep that have really out-performed the market consistently.
They are great cars, no speech marks needed. Just because they do not sell in vast numbers (partly due to a much smaller sales network) doesn`t make them less good. Are you saying the Corolla is miles better than every other compact other than the Civic. I don`t think so.
In addition lets not be so US centered. Honda sell very poorly in Europe, does that make them bad cars – no. But by your logic it does.
Bought my ’16 Mazda6 in October 2015 and we got my wife’s ’13 CX-5 in December 2012. Both have been and still are wonderful vehicles.
TTAC likes to paint the picture that Mazda is knocking on death’s door, but I really don’t think that is true. I think they are getting more recognition and it’s quite amazing what they’ve been able to do even as such a small company.
I am hoping the CX-9 sells well as it seems to be a nice and well-designed alternative to the Lambda triplet SUVs that I see 17,000 of every day.
Mazda just had an awesome early retirement program: 18 months salary and $150k. That’s not something that healthy companies do. :(
Mazda’s driving enthusiast-geared and not quite as spacious or quiet lineup is geared more towards markets like Canada, Europe and Australia than the US.
Exactly. Would you buy a Renegade/Cherokee, or a CX-3/CX-5? Sometimes the better car isn’t the better seller. Renegade/Cherokee sell on image. With a Fiat badge, they would or do tank.
Not shown in the above data are cars made by Mazda and sold under different makes, like the Fiata & iA. Sure, Mazda doesn’t make the same margins on them as their in-house cars, but those cars still come out of their factories.
From all the press lately, the CX-9 looks to perk up the brand for the rest of the year, and most of the sales seem to be the high-end trims which should really help their bottom line.
It’s the CX3, CX5 and CX9 that are behind the increase if you look at GCBC.
No surprise there. Crossovers are moving and Mazda makes better-than-average ones.
Is Mazda up, or are they down 6.9% year to date? They seem to be off almost 13,000 sales so far this year.
Apologies ToddAtlasF1 – there was a missing – sign that’s now been inserted.
Mazda is also selling Mazda 2’s to Toyota, so they are moving more iron than what the sales figures say. They sold 3007 in July and 19,434 year-to-date.
Holy $hit it’s Todd.
The Back-to-School, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Year-End deals will only get sweeter, not to mention the clearance sales in early- to mid-2017.
So is this the first time Toyota outsold Chevrolet in the USA?
IIRC it happened a few times in 08-09 when the truck/SUV market kerploded.
Interesting the Chrysler, Fiat and Mini all report steeper sale drops than scandal plagued VW.
The real action at FCA is in the RAM and Jeep brands.
So, FCA up 0.3 %… GM down -1.9%… FoMoCo down -3.0%… Toyota down -1.4%. Why single out FCA?
FCA’s sales figures have been, shall we say, in the news of late: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/07/fcas-greatest-possibly-exagerated-sales-achievements-year/
Go Buick! And Volvo too. (yes, I’m an old person)
What the heck is going on at Scion? Sales go through the roof just as Toyota pulls the plug? They can’t have that much leftover inventory to blow out.
They released 2 new products in the past 11 months. The iM is a Corolla hatchback with a better engine, better suspension, and very well equipped. The iA is a Mazda 2 that is way, way, way better than the Yaris on the same lot. The brand was starved for product. A year ago they had the xB trying to fill out the lineup between the tC and FR-S.
“better suspension”
Since this is TTAC I’m guessing that means lower & stiffer?
Fully independent rear suspension instead of ye ol’ torsion beam.
At least VW sold 5949 more cars in July than June, so that’s something. Looks like they’re still moving the Tiguans at a rapid pace. The new Tiguan and Crossblue can’t get on lots fast enough. Oh well, it’s all their own fault though between the TDI scandal and lack of affordable SUV offerings.
Impressive growth at Jaguar, no doubt due to the SUV arriving in showrooms.
F-Pace, XE, XF – Jaguar has more new models this year than it has in a decade.
So much for all the accusations that Tata would suck all the IP and value out of JLR and leave a dry carcass.
Just saw my first F-Pace on my commute home today. It looked really good!
Looks like Jaguar are clawing their way back into the US car market. The F Pace is making such a big impact for them that larger and smaller models won’t be far away. JLR combined have even now overtaken Lincoln.
JLR and Volvo are both recovering. Lincoln is stuck in purgatory.
Why did Ford sell Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo at a deep discount ?
Smart needs to just give it up. Less than 500 units per month? No way that is a profitable business.
VW’s problem isn’t so much the scandal as it is the fact that they can’t sell diesel powered vehicles right now. “Clean Diesel” used to be a huge part of VW’s appeal. Now we know it was a lie ….
To be fair VW’s 1.4TSI and 1.8TSI are fantastic motors that offer near diesel like MPG figures. We have a ’16 Jetta Sport that just replaced a ’14 SE 1.8 TSI and couldn’t be happier. Also my GTI has been a solid performer as well.