DETROIT — Sales of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles cars and trucks rose 8 percent in June; Ford was up almost 2 percent, and General Motors fell 3 percent, but the industry remains on track for its best year since 2005.
Nissan’s sales jumped 13 percent, led by a 54 percent sales surge for its small crossover, the Rogue. Toyota’s sales increased 4 percent across its Toyota, Lexus and Scion divisions as sales of its light trucks (pickups, SUVs, crossovers and vans) rose by almost 17 percent. Honda posted a 4 percent increase across all Honda and Acura models. Volkswagen was down almost 6 percent.
Subaru sales rose 7.2 percent on the strength of a 45 percent increase in its Legacy sedan and a 6 percent gain for its best-selling Forester SUV.
In June, automakers likely sold about 1.5 million vehicles, or about 5 percent more than the same month last year. TrueCar President John Krafcik estimated the annual selling pace for June at 17.4 million, slightly below May’s torrid 17.8 million pace.
At 2015’s halfway mark the National Automobile Dealers Association revised its forecast from 16.94 to 17.17 million for the entire year. For 2016, NADA is forecasting sales of 17.62 new cars and light trucks.
“Purchases and leases of new cars and light trucks will continue as a stronger overall economy continues to drive demand,” said NADA Chief Economist Steven Szakaly during a quarterly economic briefing Wednesday. “While we’ve had a slower than normal recovery from this recession, we are seeing the sixth consecutive year of new light vehicle sales growth.”
Kelley Blue Book also increased its 2015 forecast to 17.1 million sales which would exceed 2005’s 16.99 million mark and approach 2001’s 17.2 million.
“Demand for SUVs and trucks continue to drive the market, which resulted in several top automakers posting higher sales in the month of June,” said analyst Mark Williams. “Transaction prices continue to climb, increasing 2.5 percent in June from last year, bringing the average up to $33,340.” That would be $821 higher than a year earlier.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said he expects the auto cycle to remain strong through 2017 because interest rates are low, consumer sentiment is getting stronger and gas prices have not risen too steeply. Subprime loans, a concern among some industry leaders and analysts, are at about 11 percent of all new car loans compared with 20 percent in 2007.
For June, sales at FCA US were boosted by a 28 percent increase for its Chrysler brand and a 25 percent increase for Jeep while sales rose 2 percent for Ram. However, sales fell 14 percent for Dodge and a whopping 30 percent for the Fiat brand, which continues to struggle.
The company said it sold more than 4,800 Jeep Renegades in June during the new compact SUV’s third full month on sale in the U.S. and said sales of the Chrysler 200 were up 153 percent.
“June represented another strong month for our company with sales up 8 percent and our 63rd-consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases,” said Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales. “Our all-new Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X inventory started to arrive at dealerships in greater volume during June, positioning us well for the summer-selling season.”
General Motors’ GMC brand posted an 8 percent increase, bolstered by a 21 percent jump in sales of the Sierra pickup and a 17 percent rise for the Acadia crossover utility. Sales fell at GM’s other three brands with Buick down 18 percent, Chevrolet off 4 percent and Cadillac slipping 3 percent from June 2014.
The company’s full-size pickup trucks, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra sold briskly again, but the large SUVs engineered from the same underpinnings — Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade — all fell.
GM ratcheted down sales to rental companies and other fleet customers to about 20 percent of June sales from a monthly average of about 25 percent, said GM spokesman Jim Cain.
Ford sold 225,647 vehicles in June for an increase of less than 2 percent. Sales of SUVs were up 10 percent for the month and the Ford Mustang was up 54 percent. The Lincoln brand was up 15 percent.
While F-Series continues to garner high transaction prices — reaching a record $44,000 — pickup sales for the month were down 9 percent with sales of about 55,100.
U.S. sales chief Mark LaNeve said the two F-150 pickup plants are now running at full production but it will likely take until the end of the third quarter to have full availability of the full lineup with so many cab and bed configurations, engine choices and trim levels. Full availability is 120,000-140,000 trucks in inventory, he said. Ford started June with 75,000 F-150s, almost half the 141,000 trucks it had in stock a year ago.
Cars and fuel-efficient hybrids continue to sell poorly as consumers gravitate to larger vehicle in this period of lower gas prices.
U.S. auto sales continue to be driven by low auto loan interest rates, and a renewed interest in leasing.
“Leasing’s influence on industry sales shows no sign of relenting; it made up 28 percent of new car sales in June,” said Jessica Caldwell, director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com.
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