Vehicle sales grew 14 percent overall throughout the industry in July compared to a year ago. Many of the big manufacturers saw substantial growth, including Honda and Mazda, who saw sales growth break the 20-percent mark. July sales also keep the industry on track to sell over 15.7 million vehicles in 2013.
American Honda saw a growth of 21 percent, including 18 percent from the Acura side, while Mazda realized its biggest sales increase in a year and a half with 29-percent growth. Also of note was the 17-percent growth at Toyota and 16 percent at General Motors, with the latter seeing gains between 11 and 17 percent among all brands.
However, the biggest July sales growth by far came at the hands of Subaru, which was powered to a 43-percent growth thanks to July record sales for the Forester, Outback and Impreza. The automaker is on pace to surpass 400,000 vehicle sales in 2013 and set a U.S. sales record.
Nissan Auto Group, Chrysler Group and Ford Motor Co. each saw respectable growth of 11 percent. Nissan’s growth comes despite a whopping 33-percent drop from Infiniti, while Chrysler was fueled by a 32-percent increase from Ram. [UPDATE: It was reported later that the numbers released by Ford may not be accurate. As soon as the official numbers are released, we will update this report.]
In the luxury segment, Jaguar Land Rover led the way in sales increases with 31 percent, albeit on just 5,331 units. Additionally, Mercedes-Benz sales grew 19 percent and German rival BMW grew 11 percent in July.
Volkswagen Group remained relatively even in July, with just 2-sales percent growth – highlighted by a 12-percent increase at Audi and a 3-percent drop in the VW brand. The group’s slight growth means that all of the major auto groups saw overall sales increases in the U.S. in July. This could be due to the summer months, which do see an increase in sales events and incentives, as dealerships try to make room for vehicles of the new model year.
