Auto Sales to Reach Highest July Mark in Eight Years, Edmunds Predicts

Edmunds.com forecasts that about 1.46 million new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. market in July, the highest July total since 2006.

by Staff

July 24, 2014

2 min to read

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Edmunds.com forecasts that 1,461,290 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in July, for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 16.8 million. This would be the highest July sales since the auto industry delivered 1.49 million new car sales in July 2006.

“July’s performance is the clearest indication yet that retail buyers are driving market demand,” said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. “Shoppers are looking past news of recalls and rising gas prices and they’re finding affordable interest rates and other incentives that make it easier to buy a new car.”

Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 14.5 million vehicles in July, with fleet transactions accounting for 13.8% of total sales. An estimated 3.22 million used cars will be sold in July, for a SAAR of 36.2 million (compared to 2.94 million — or a SAAR of 36.7 million — used car sales in June).

Edmunds.com projects that Toyota will post the most notable sales performance in July. The forecast anticipates that the Japanese automaker will see sales grow 12.4% year over year and 7.7% month over month. As a result, Toyota is poised to surpass Ford as the second best-selling manufacturer for the first month since August 2013.

SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Sales Volume	Jul-14 Forecast	Jul-13	Jun-14	Change from Jul 2013*	Change from Jun 2014*
GM	258,966	234,071	267,461	10.6%	-3.2%
Toyota	217,314	193,394	201,714	12.4%	7.7%
Ford	212,714	193,080	221,396	10.2%	-3.9%
Chrysler Group	170,659	140,102	171,086	21.8%	-0.2%
Honda	144,701	141,439	129,023	2.3%	12.2%
Hyundai/Kia	126,937	115,009	118,051	10.4%	7.5%
Nissan	123,653	109,041	109,643	13.4%	12.8%
VW/Audi	48,379	48,843	45,694	-0.9%	5.9%
Industry	1,461,290	1,314,891	1,419,090	11.1%	3.0%

*NOTE: July 2014 had 26 selling days, July 2013 had 25 and June 2014 had 24.

MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Market Share	Jul-14 Forecast	Jul-13	Jun-14	Change from July 2013 (Percentage pts.)	Change from June 2014 (Percentage pts.)
GM	17.7%	17.8%	18.8%	-0.1%	-1.1%
Toyota	14.9%	14.7%	14.2%	0.2%	0.7%
Ford	14.6%	14.7%	15.6%	-0.1%	-1.0%
Chrysler Group	11.7%	10.7%	12.1%	1.0%	-0.4%
Honda	9.9%	10.8%	9.1%	-0.9%	0.8%
Hyundai/Kia	8.7%	8.7%	8.3%	-0.1%	0.4%
Nissan	8.5%	8.3%	7.7%	0.2%	0.7%
VW/Audi	3.3%	3.7%	3.2%	-0.4%	0.1%