Hyundai, Honda, Toyota post July sales gains as Detroit 3 abandon monthly reports

Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Subaru posted higher U.S. sales in July while Nissan and Mazda fell in the first monthly sales report without a Detroit 3 participant.

Hyundai's 12 percent increase marked its 12 straight monthly advance. At Toyota Motor Sales and American Honda, gains at the mainstream brands offset declines in their luxury units. Nissan and its Infiniti unit both were down as the company continued to scale back its incentive offerings.

July marks a new era for U.S. sales results tallied by Automotive News as Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles join General Motors in abandoning monthly reports in favor of quarterly. The absence of companies representing 45 percent of U.S. sales will undercut the value of the monthly data as a barometer of the industry's health.

Industry sales had fallen each month through June, and most forecasts indicated July would be down as well.

GM went to quarterly reports last year, abandoning a tradition that begin with the demise of 10-day reports in the early 1990s. Ford stopped public release of its numbers this year, while continuing to issue figures to the Automotive News Data Center. FCA next will report in October, at the close of the third quarter.

At Honda, volume rose 1.9 percent to 141,296 units, with sales up 2.5 percent at the Honda division but slipping 3.7 percent at Acura. American Honda, ending two straight months of declines, said total light-truck demand increased 2.1 percent while car deliveries edged up 1.8 percent in July.

Honda brand light-truck sales, benefiting from the new Passport and higher CR-V and Ridgeline demand, rose 3.1 percent to 68,778, setting a record for the month, the company said.

July volume rose 0.4 percent at the Toyota division but slipped 1.5 percent at Lexus. Overall, Toyota Motor's car deliveries rose 3.6 percent while truck demand slipped 1.7 percent.

At Nissan, which continues to reduce incentive spending and fleet business, volume dropped 9.1 percent, with car deliveries sliding 25 percent. Sales dropped 8.9 percent at the Nissan brand and 11 percent at Infiniti, extending the luxury brand's losing streak to seven months.

Subaru, with new and redesigned crossovers and cars, extended its streak of year-over-year monthly gains to 92 with a 7.9 percent rise in July volume.

Hyundai's U.S. light-vehicle sales advanced 12 percent in July, helped by higher retail demand, driven by new and redesigned crossovers. It was the 12 consecutive month of year-over-year gains for the brand.

Retail deliveries rose 5 percent in July, Hyundai said, and fleet sales represented 10 percent of volume, or roughly 5,700 units.

In a market increasingly propelled by light trucks, Hyundai is benefiting from the introduction of new and redesigned crossovers: the Santa Fe, Kona and Palisade. Hyundai said retail demand for three crossovers—Santa Fe, Tucson and Kona—rose by 11 percent or more last month.

The VW brand produced it's fifth straight gain, but smallest of the year, with a 2.2 percent increase.

Mazda posted its 13th straight monthly decline with a 3.5 percent dip in July volume. Sales of both the Mazda3 and Mazda6 plunged more than 30 percent.

Among other auto makers, sales dropped 13 percent at Mitsubishi and 34 percent at Mini. At other luxury brands, BMW posted a 4.7 percent gain.

Market cools

U.S. light-vehicle demand may cool for the seventh straight month in July when other auto makers report results later today.

Across the industry, U.S. deliveries dropped 2.4 percent in the first half, with weaker retail demand offset by higher fleet sales.

Higher interest rates and rising transaction prices are undermining showroom traffic, analysts say, even as overall U.S. economic and job growth continues, though at a slower rate.

Average new-vehicle retail transaction prices, driven by the steady consumer shift from cars to light trucks, continue to rise, and were on track to reach $33,065 last month, up sharply from $31,767 in July 2018, J.D. Power estimates.

SAAR outlook

The seasonally adjusted, annualized pace of sales is forecast to come in at 16.6 million, based on average estimates from J.D. Power/LMC Automotive, ALG, Edmunds and Cox Automotive.

If the forecast holds, it will mark the fourth month this year the SAAR has dropped below 17 million. The sales pace came in at 17.29 million in June and 16.73 million in July 2018. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is expected to update and release today new seasonal factors used to the calculate the SAAR.

Discounts

Incentive spending projections were mixed last month, with J.D. Power estimating average spiffs rose to $4,074 from $3,849 while ALG estimates that discounts dropped 2.6 percent to $3,671. But with inventories starting to stack up on many dealer lots, some auto makers enticed consumers with sweeter deals, notably on older stock. Lincoln offered zero percent financing and deferred up to three initial monthly payments on select 2019 models. Honda dangled 36 monthly lease payments as low as $169, and $2,799 due at signing, on some 2019 Civic models.