Unit sales of light vehicles showed no forward m/m momentum in August and fell sharply with the comparison to last year's Cash-For-Clunkers sales program. Sales slipped 0.6% to 11.47M units (SAAR) following July's 3.3% rise. (Past sales were revised due to new seasonal factors.) Sales were notably weak, off 19.0%, versus last year when they were boosted by the sales promotion. August sales matched Consensus expectations and remained up by nearly one-third from the recession low in February '09. (Seasonal adjustment of these figures is provided by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

Higher gasoline prices, up nearly two-thirds from the December 2008 low, continue to encourage sales of fuel efficient vehicles. Imported light vehicle sales were strong and posted an 8.8% m/m gain to 3.14M. Sales of imported autos rose 11.1% m/m to 2.15M, their highest since last September.. Light truck sales rose a lesser 4.0% to 0.99M. Sales of domestically produced vehicles reversed July's gain and fell 3.8% to 8.33M. Sales of fuel efficient cars fell 4.5% to 3.53M while light truck sales fell 3.2% to 4.79M.

Overall, import's share of the U.S. light vehicle market surged to 27.4%, the highest since September of last year, but it was still below the high of 30.5% in February '09. (Imported vehicles are those produced outside the United States.) Imports' share of the U.S. car market rose m/m to 37.9%. That was above the 34.7% for all of 2009 and the highest since January of last year. Imports' share of the light truck market rose m/m to 17.1% but remained below the 19.7% during all of last year.

The U.S. vehicle sales figures can be found in Haver's USECON database.