U.S. Car Sales Slip Again in May

Demand for cars and light trucks in the U.S. dipped by 5,200 units to 1.59 million vehicles last month, dragged down by shrinkage for Ford, General Motors and Honda.

May’s annualized sales rate climbed to 17.4 million from 16.4 million in April and 17.3 million a year earlier, according to Automotive News. But the market’s unit volumes have slipped every month this year, resulting in a 2% drop to 6.91 million sales through the first five months of 2019.

Ford and GM, which no longer publicly report monthly sale numbers, saw their May sales shrink by an estimated 4% to 222,400 units and 1% to 160,300 units, respectively.

FCA’s sales last month rose 2% to 218,700 vehicles. Volume gains of 29% to 67,100 units for Ram trucks and 3% to 47,800 units for Dodge vehicles offset a 7% slide to 90,300 deliveries for Jeep SUVs.

Results were mixed for foreign-based carmakers. Among Asian producers, May results rose for Toyota (+3% to 222,200 units), Hyundai-Kia (+2% to 128,500) and Subaru (+6% to 64,000). But Nissan’s sales were flat at 132,000 units, and deliveries fell for Honda (-6% to 132,000 vehicles).

Volkswagen led European manufacturers in the U.S. last month with an 8% gain to 35,700 group sales. Demand for VW brand models jumped 14% to 35,700. Sales of Audi cars and crossovers declined 2% to 18,900 units.

BMW’s group sales in May shrank 3% to 30,000 units. The company says a 2% gain to 27,100 sales for BMW brand vehicles was more than offset by a 33% plunge to 2,800 units for Mini brand small cars.

Mercedes-Benz sales last month, including its Smart minicar unit, slipped less than 1% to 30,000 vehicles.