Someone forgot to tell six of the imports about July's slowdown in auto sales. Japanese brands Acura and Subaru, German makes Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, and Korean nameplate Kia all had the best July ever.

Acura marked a ninth consecutive month of record-setting sales, reporting an all-time July

record of 13,537. That number breaks the previous record of 13,428 set in July 1991 and is a 16.4 percent increase over last year, the company announced. Acura's year-to-date sales rose to 98,447 in July, up 24.1 percent over the same period last year.

The heat of summer didn't keep Audi customers out of dealerships in July as Audi of America's 2001 record-setting pace continued. Audi sales for the month were 7,974, the best July sales month ever, an increase of 21.8 percent over July 2000 when sales were 6,547. Audi year-to-date sales increased to 51,274 versus the 46,919 vehicles sold during the first seven months of last year, up 9.3 percent.

BMW of North America, LLC reported year-to-date sales of 126,303, an increase of 22 percent, over the 103,951 sold in the first seven months of 2000. BMW posted sales of 19,046 vehicles in July, compared to 15,168 in July 2000, up 26 percent. This marks the 34th consecutive month that BMW has surpassed its own monthly sales

records.

Kia announced its best July sales ever with 19,405 vehicles sold. This represents a whopping 58-percent increase over July 2000 and,

with year-to-date sales of 121,038, the Korean carmaker is 39 percent ahead of last year's sales pace.

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) reported July sales of 16,155 vehicles, making this the best July on record for the company. On a year-to-date basis, the July sales pushed the company's volume to 116,371, up 0.6 percent over last year's record-setting pace (115,690).

Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) announced record sales for the month of July, with 16,105 total

units posted. Overall Subaru sales are up 7 percent from 2000 totals for the same period.