When the Detroit Three reported August new car sales Thursday morning, not much was expected and that’s exactly what was delivered. Analysts were looking for a year-over-year decline in light vehicle sales of around 3.5% for the month, but the decline for the three carmakers averaged over 6%.
From a recent high of 70,937 units sold in June, the Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) saw sales of its F-Series pickups fall to 65,657 in July before pushing back up to 66,946 in August. And while sales of the F-Series are up 6.7% in the first eight months of 2016, August sales were down 6.1% year over year for the country’s best-selling vehicle.
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) said sales of its Silverado pickups dropped 4.7% year over year in August to 52,408 units. Sales of the company’s GMC Sierra trucks plunged 17.7% to 17,478 for a combined total of 69,886, down more than 8% compared with August 2015 and down 8.7% from total unit sales of 76,544 in July. Year to date GM’s pickup sales are down about 0.5%.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) sold 40,202 Ram pickups in August, essentially flat year over year. Year to date, sales are up 5% at 308,970 units.
For the Detroit Three, full-size pickup sales in August totaled 177,034 compared with 182,028 in July, a drop of about 2.7%. Compared with total August 2015 sales of 187,891 that’s a decline of about 5.8%.
The other full-size pickups on offer in the United States are the Tundra from Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and the Nissan Titan. Tundra’s sales totaled 9,875 in August (down 1.8% year over year). The Titan sold 1,248 units in August, down 1.6% compared with August 2015.
Toyota’s midsize Tacoma pickup sold 15,373 units in August, holding its place as the leader in this space. Sales of GM’s midsize Colorado pickup rose 29.9% to 9,242 units, and sales of the GMC Canyon rose 38.8% to 3,363 in August. Nissan’s midsize Frontier pickup sold 9,537 units in July, up 161.6% year over year. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) sold 3,437 units of its Ridgeline midsize pickup, up from just four in August of 2015.
In the full-size pickup segment, August sales of 177,034 vehicles from the Detroit Three pencils out to a Ford market share of 37.8%, up 1.8 points from July. GM’s share came in at 29.6% for the Chevy Silverado (down 0.1 point) and 9.9% (down about 2.4 points) for the GMC Sierra. Ram’s market share totaled 22.7% (up 0.8 point).
The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sale is expected to come in at 17.2 million in August, down from a SAAR of 17.79 million in August 2015 and down from 17.86 million in July.
TrueCar reported that the average incentive from all carmakers in August rose 7.7% year over year to $3,331. GM led with an average incentive of $4,355 (up 7.9%), with Fiat Chrysler at $4,146 (up 16%) and Ford at $4,084 (up 18%).
Get Ready To Retire (Sponsored)
Start by taking a quick retirement quiz from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes, or less.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Get started right here.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
