GM sales fall; Ford, Fiat Chrysler rise - USA TODAY
General Motors reported that its sales fell 3% in June compared to the same month last year, a drop due to expected lower sales to rental car fleets. But Ford Motor saw sales rise 2% and Fiat Chrysler reported a boost of 8%. Besides Detroit's Big 3, foreign automakers saw sales increases, too. Toyota was up 4%, Honda climbed 4. 2% and Nissan was up a whopping 13% despite small-car sales that continued to slump industry-wide amid low gasoline prices. In a call with reporters, Ford said that if June's overall industry performance was maintained for the full year, the auto industry would be on track for more than 17 million new vehicle sales for the year, a level not seen since the past decade. The big increase is being seen in small SUVs, which have caught up to small-car sales with about 19% of the market. General Motors said it actually had a terrific month on the strength of sales to individual customers, which are the most profitable. It was the best June for sales to individual customers since 2011, it says. The nation's largest automaker says about a fifth of its business is now to fleets, and that it's working to offset its loss of rental-car sales by trying to create more sales to corporate and government fleets. "We just wrapped up the U. S. auto industry's best six months in a decade, driven by strong demand for pickups and crossovers," said Kurt McNeil, GM's U. S. vice president of sales, in a statement. Source: www.usatoday.com
