According to WardsAuto, rising incentives, a stronger economy and improved consumer confidence boosted deliveries to an industrywide 9.3% rise in daily sales. Asia-based carmakers saw the biggest rise, up 10.9% year-over-year in the month. The three major U.S.-based firms saw a boost of 8.3%, and the European makers got a bump of 5.7%.
Year to date, sales are up 5% for the eight months to more than 11.3 million units according to WardsAuto and 11.16 million units according to KBB.
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) continues to sell more cars than any other maker despite the millions of recalls. GM sold more than 272,000 units in August, up from July sales of 256,000 but below 2013’s total of nearly 276,000. Transaction prices were up 7.1% year-over-year. GM continues to lead the U.S. market with a 17.2% share.
READ ALSO: 9 Cars Most Likely to Be Dumped
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) sold 246,100 units in August, blowing out the KBB estimate of 221,000 and topping the Edmunds.com estimate of nearly 227,000. Sales rose 6.3% year-over-year. The average transaction price rose 1.7% year-over-year as well. Toyota’s market share was 15.5% in August.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was forecast to sell up to 217,000 units in August and ended up selling 221,373. Sales of its F-Series pickups slipped and have fallen 0.4% for the year to date. SUV sales remained solid, and transaction prices were 1.5% higher.
Chrysler sold 198,379 units in August, beating KBB’s estimate of 184,000 and the Edmunds.com estimate of about 191,000. Sales were up 19.8% year-over-year as the company’s new Jeep Cherokee remains a top seller, joining the Ram pickups. The average transaction price rose 4.2% year-over-year, and Chrysler’s share of the market came to 12.5% in August.
Volkswagen sold an anemic 35,181 units in August, a drop of 12.8% year-over-year and 13.4% for the year to date. The sales total came in far below the Edmunds.com estimate of nearly 50,000. VW holds just 3.3% market share in the United States, but the company was able to boost its pricing, with a gain of 5.6% in its average transaction price. By contrast the Audi group’s sales rose more than 22% from August of 2013 to 17,101 units, its best August and its best month ever.
Mercedes and BMW continue to battle it out for the leading luxury car seller in the United States, with Mercedes claiming a slim lead for the year to date and a narrow win in August sales. Each claims about 2% of the U.S. market.
READ ALSO: Mercedes Ranks Number 1 in Customer Satisfaction
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