Though sales continue to fall for both passenger cars and light trucks in the USA, the gap between the two is now at its narrowest for six months.
According to Autodata, passenger car sales in August dropped 7.7 per cent to 628,947 units from 681,130 across the US. Meanwhile, light truck sales fell by 22.1 per cent to 620,846 units from 797,144 the year before.
Though the gap between light truck sales and passenger car sales was at its narrowest for half a year – cars 50.3 per cent, light trucks 49.7 per cent – the fact that this is the sixth straight month in which passenger car sales have surpassed those of light trucks is further indication of a changing approach to vehicle buying from the US public. Despite drops in sales for the majority of manufacturers, most green cars – such as hybrids – faired well in the results.
Here is how the car sales broke down for each manufacturer:
Chrysler: Sales slumped by a whopping 34 per cent to 110,235 compared to August 2007.
Ford: Ford, along with affiliate brands Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo, saw sales drop by 26.6 per cent in August 2008 compared to August 2007. However, Ford Focus sales increased by 23 per cent and there was success for the Ford Escape Hybrid with sales leaping by 17 per cent.
GM: The company reported sales of 308,817 vehicles in August down 20.4 per cent from the previous year. Nevertheless, this was the company’s most successful month of the year so far which it attributed to its scheme of offering employee discounts for everyone.
Honda: There was a slight decline for Honda of 7.3 per cent to 146,855 – though that was compared to a record-breaking month in August, 2007. The Civic Hybrid enjoyed a leap of 47.7 per cent to 3,105.
Nissan: Bucking the trend, Nissan enjoyed growth of 13.6 per cent to 108,493.
Toyota: In the USA, Toyota reported sales of 211,533 vehicles, a decrease of 9.4 per cent from last August. Nevertheless its sales continued to be driven by its hybrid models – the Camry and Camry Hybrid, which posted combined sales of 44,064 units, up 3.3 per cent over August 2007. The Toyota Prius meanwhile suffered from limited availability and posted August sales of 13,463 units, down 4.2 per cent from August 2007. The ‘green car of the year’ Toyota Yaris reported a sales leap of 20.5 per cent compared to the previous year’s month with 9,474 units sold.
