U.S. Car Sales Climbed 5% in May

U.S. demand for new passenger vehicles climbed 5% to about 1.59 million units last month, according to Automotive News.

May’s annualized sales rate was 16.9 million compared with 16.8 million a year ago and 17.2 million in April. It was the first time the annual rate dropped below 17 million units since August.

Domestic brands saw deliveries rise by an estimated 7% to 720,200 units. Monthly sales at Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles rose 1% to 241,500 units and 11% to 215,400 units, respectively. General Motors, which no longer offers monthly results, saw sales zoom 11% to an estimated 263,500 units.

Results were mixed for Asian brands last month. Volume fell for Toyota (-1% to 215,300 units) and Nissan (-4% to 131,800). But deliveries grew for Honda (+3% to 153,100 units), Hyundai (+12% to 65,000), Subaru (+7% to 60,100), Kia (+2% to 59,500), Mazda (+15% to 30,000) and Mitsubishi (+32% to 12,400).

AN reports that sales growth in May for major European brands was led by Volkswagen (+4% to 31,200 units), BMW (+3% to 26,700) and Audi (+1% to 19,300). Monthly results show Mercedes-Benz slipped by 100 units to 30,200 vehicles.