US light vehicle sales rocked in August, rising 5.5% to nearly 1.6m cars and light trucks, blowing right past analyst estimates.
The volume yielded a seasonally adjusted annualised sales rate (SAAR) of 17.53m, the highest since January 2006. That was also 1.59m sales higher than August 2013 and 1.05m higher than July 2014.
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Audi, Maserati and Subaru set sales records while Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota set new August benchmarks. Sales of Toyota SUVs hit a record as did sales of the Honda Accord, which was the second best selling vehicle for the month.
Chrysler Group set the pace, posting a 19.8% gain with its best August sales since 2002. Jeep continued to bring home the bacon with sales up 48.7% and was the top-selling SUV brand for the month. Ram light truck brand sales increased by 38.7% in August.
Strong Toyota sales and Ford’s tepid results dropped the Dearborn automaker to third in the manufacturer rankings for the month. Weakness in truck sales and the Lincoln brand were the culprits that weighed on Ford’s results.
A small increase in General Motors‘ light truck sales wasn’t enough to counter weaker car sales at Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet. Sales of GM’s biggest, and most profitable, SUVs provided a bright note: they were up 38% last month.
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By GlobalDataThe record sales of the Accord were about the only real good news for American Honda. Civic, Pilot and Ridgeline sales were all off by double digits and deliveries of the Fit [Jazz] and CR-V were off 6.2% and 1.7%, respectively.
Nissan enjoyed double digit growth in August despite a 22.9% drop reported by its upscale Infiniti brand. Strong results from the Versa, Sentra and Maxima built on solid growth in sales of the Rogue and Murano to deliver an 11.5% gain.
Toyota Motor Sales USA was firing on almost all cylinders in August. Lexus went right to the top of the premium segment for a second month and the record SUV sales mentioned earlier boosted Toyota brand light truck sales past very weak Scion sales and softness in Camry results.
Subaru rode big sales of the Legacy, Forester and XV CrossTrek to a new record while Mazda reported growth in both cars and light trucks. Mitsubishi continued to improve, lifted by sales of the Mirage.
Hyundai and Kia reported new monthly records although Hyundai took a hit in sales of some of its upscale lines. Kia’s premium K900 is still a slow mover: the affiliate may want to look at upgrading its image if it wants to be a credible player in the luxury segment.
Both halves of the Jaguar Land Rover house missed their numbers in August. Sales of the XF fell 62.4% and Range Rover Sport deliveries dropped 25.8%. Jaguar’s 31.3% deficit knocked it back into the red for the year.
A record for Audi and a big jump in Porsche sales couldn’t overcome another disappointing sales report card from Volkswagen.
Poor sales of the Mini continue to hamper BMW results. The ‘English’ brand’s sales are down 21.1% for the first eight months of 2014 as US buyers move away from smaller cars and toward crossovers and SUVs.
There was a lot of exuberance surrounding the August reports but we’d advise caution: the market is entering what has historically been one of the softest periods of the year and the growth trend still looks like about 16.4m sales in 2014.
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