Cars and Drivers

Volkswagen US Sales Collapse Almost 11% in July

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: July 29, 2016 8:35 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 5:08 am

Volkswagen is taking the expected beating in the United States due to its emissions scandal. Its sales for the month dropped 10.6% to 48,000 in July, according to Kelley Blue Book, compared to the same period of last year. The total U.S. car market dropped 0.5% to 1.5 million, the research firm forecast.

VW may never sell diesels again in the U.S. market, which will cause sales to drop more rapidly in the months ahead.

Among the “big three” manufacturers that sell cars in the United States — General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) — Ford was the only one to post growth. Its sales moved higher by 0.4% to 223,000. GM sales fell 3.9% to 262,000, and Toyota’s dropped 3.8% to 209,000.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU), which has had the validity of its sales figures questioned, posted growth of 2.2% to 182,000.

Tim Fleming, analyst for Kelley Blue Book, confirmed an anxiety car manufacturers have had for some time:

The new-car market currently appears to be reaching its peak in terms of sales, and now there is a better chance that 2016 won’t be another record year, as year-over-year comparisons for the remainder of 2016 will be tough. After a record new-car sales total in the United States in 2015, Kelley Blue Book’s full-year forecast for 2016 now calls for sales in the range of 17.4 million to 17.8 million, which would range anywhere from a slight year-over-year decline to a 2 percent increase.

Sales have started to falter in one of the three largest markets in the world (the others are China and the European Union). The ability of car companies to post record margins in the quarters ahead has been challenged.