U.S. Demand for Foreign Brands Rises 1%

Foreign-brand carmakers increased their combined sales in the U.S. last month to 784,900 units from 775,200 in July 2018, according to a tally by Automotive News.

Detroit’s traditional Big Three carmakers—General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles—have switched to quarterly sales reports, making it impossible to accurately assess the overall U.S. car market on a monthly basis.

Several major market research firms estimate that the traditional domestic brands also improved their sales in July, which had an extra sales day this year.

Foreign brands continue to report monthly results. Among the top sellers, July sales advanced for Toyota (by 400 units to 209,200 vehicles), Honda (+3% to 128,500), Subaru (+8% to 64,100), Hyundai (+12% to 57,300), Kia (+1% to 53,400), Volkswagen (+2% to 31,200), Mercedes-Benz (+20% to 27,500), BMW (+5% to 23,000) and Audi (+1% to 19,400).

Last month’s volume declined for Nissan (-9% to 98,900 units) and Mazda (-4% to 23,300).

Analysts believe the annualized sales pace last month fell to an average 16.6 million units from 16.7 million in July last year and 17.3 million in June this year, AN says.