· U.S.
sales of light vehicles in July fell another 8.3% from June, according
to the Autodata Corporation. The latest sales level of 12.55M units was the
lowest since early-1992 and it pulled sales down 21.5% so far this year.
The level of vehicle sales also was lower than Consensus expectations
for sales of 13.7M.
· Sales of domestically made light vehicles overall, at 8.94M, fell 8.5% last month from June and they were off 24.7% YTD. The level of domestic sales was at the lowest since January 1987.
· The relatively fuel inefficient domestically made light trucks continued to feel most the effect of higher gasoline prices and sales fell 9.1% from June. That pulled the decline in sales since December to 32.3% and it left the level of light truck sales at the lowest since late-1992.
· Sales of U.S. made cars also felt the effect of higher gas prices. They about repeated their June decline with a 7.8% m/m drop to 4.35M units. Using data from Ward's Automotive News, that was lowest level of car sales since the late 1950s.
· Sales of imported
light vehicles also showed the effect of higher gasoline prices, and
weaker consumer spending generally. They fell by 7.8% to 3.61 million
after June's 0.1% uptick.
· Sales of imported autos fell 9.0%, to 2.54M, after the revised 4.1% increase during June. Despite the monthly decline, sales of the relatively fuel efficient imported cars are up 1.9% year-to-year.
· Not impervious to the rise in gasoline prices, sales of imported light trucks fell 5.0% (-24.5% y/y) last month while they were off 4.6% since December.
· As a result of the greater decline in sales of U.S. made vehicles, import's share of the U.S. light vehicle market rose again to another record level of 28.8%. (Imported vehicles are those produced outside the U.S. and does not include vehicles with the nameplate of a foreign manufacturer produced within the U.S.) Imports' share of the U.S. car market ticked slightly lower from the June record to 36.9% while import's share of the light truck market rose to 18.9%, near the record of 19.3%.
· U.S. auto exports on the rise from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago can be found here.