The Autodata Corporation reported that sales of light vehicles during July declined 2.0% (-0.7% y/y) to 16.89 million units (SAAR). The decline added to a 1.3% June shortfall and left sales at the lowest level since April. Earlier sales data were revised slightly.

Sales of light truck sales eased 0.8% last month (+4.1% y/y) to 12.05 million units. Purchases of domestically-made light trucks slipped 1.6% (+5.0% y/y) to 9.68 million units, while sales of imported light trucks improved 0.9% (0.4% y/y) to 2.36 million units. Imported truck sales have roughly doubled in the past four years.

Auto sales dropped 4.7% (-11.0% y/y) to 4.84 million. This compares to a peak level of 7.89 million unit sales during all of 2014. Purchases of domestically-produced cars fell 4.5% (-16.4% y/y) to 3.37 million units. Sales of imported cars declined 5.8% (+4.3% y/y) to 1.47 million units.

Trucks' share of the U.S. light vehicle market increased to a record 71.3%, up from a low of 48.8% during all of 2012.

Imports' share of the U.S. vehicle market rose slightly to 22.7% and has been trending upward since 2015. Imports' share of the passenger car market remained high at 30.4%, up roughly five percentage points since the end of last year. Imports share of the light truck market eased to 19.6%, but remained up from the 12.1% low in April 2014.

U.S. vehicle sales figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. Additional detail by manufacturer is in the INDUSTRY database.