U.S. Car Sales Grows Slowed to 2% in June

Sales of passenger cars and light trucks in the U.S. grew 2% to 1.51 million last month in June, Autodata Corp. reports. The annualized pace of deliveries fell to 16.7 million units from 17.5 million in May and 17.0 million units in June 2015.

Analysts have been predicting that sales growth in the U.S. would soon plateau after a record expansion following the Great Recession in 2009. May believe annual volumes will slowly decline over the next two or three years.

Demand for light trucks, a category which includes pickup trucks, SUVs and crossovers, continued to rise. Truck deliveries surged 11% to 891,000 units, but sales of conventional cars slid 8% to 622,900.

Traditional domestic brands increased sales last month 4% to 691,900 units. Gains by Ford (+6% to 239,100 units) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (+7% to 194,500) offset a 2% decline to 255,200 vehicles by General Motors.

Asian-brand carmakers posted a 3% gain to 688,400 units in June. Growth by Honda (+3% to 138,700 vehicles), Nissan (+13% to 140,600), Kia (+16% to 62,600) and Subaru (+5% to 46,600) made up for 6% shrinkage to 198,300 units at Toyota. Hyundai sales were flat at 67,500 units.

European-based manufacturers saw sales fall 4% to 133,600 units last month, led by a 22% drop to 23,800 units for Volkswagen and a 10% decline to 28,900 units for BMW. Sales improved for Mercedes-Benz (+4% to 31,600 vehicles) and Audi (+1% to 18,400).