U.S. Car Sales Climb 4%

Deliveries of cars and light trucks in the U.S. rose to 1.48 million in June from 1.42 million a year earlier, Autodata Corp. reports. The market's annualized selling rate climbed to nearly 17.2 million from 16.9 million in June 2014.

Market volume for the first half of the year rose to a decade-high of 8.52 million vehicles. Gains were again driven by strong demand for pickup trucks and SUV/crossovers. Sales of passenger cars fell 4% to 676,600 units, but light-truck sales rose 11% to 800,000.

America's traditional domestic brands gained 2% to 667,900 units in June. Sales shrank 3% to 259,400 units at General Motors but advanced 2% to 224,700 at Ford and 9% to 181,900 at Chrysler.

Asian carmakers posted 6% growth to 669,700 units in June. Deliveries rose 4% to 209,900 units for Toyota, 4% to 134,400 for Honda and 13% to 124,200 for Nissan. Volume also improved for Kia (+7% to 54,100 units), Subaru (7% to 44,300 ), Mazda (+4% to 27,200 units) and Mitsubishi (+32% to 8,000). Hyundai posted sales of 67,500, up only 100 units.

Deliveries by European brands grew 5% to 139,100 vehicles last month. Gains were led by BMW (+7% to 32,200 units), Mercedes-Benz (+6% to 30,500) and Volkswagen (+6% to 30,400).