Car sales kept on rolling in June, providing further evidence of the recovery in U.S. auto demand.
Major automakers reported June sales totals that solidly increased versus a year prior and came in near or above analysts’ expectations. General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) led the way nearly 265,000 vehicles sold, up 6% versus last year and the best month since September 2008.
“America’s families are better off than they were at the beginning of the year and they believe — with good justification — that the economic expansion is going to continue,” Mustafa Mohatarem, GM’s chief economist, said in a statement.
Ford’s (F, Fortune 500) June sales were roughly 236,000, up 13.4% from a year prior, while Chrysler’s sales hit nearly 157,000, up 8%.
Toyota (TM) sales jumped 14% to more than 195,000. Volkswagen was the laggard of the bunch, with its June sales declining 3.2% versus last year to roughly 37,000.
Overall, industry tracker TrueCar predicts U.S. vehicle sales totaled 1.38 million, up 7.8% from June 2012. TrueCar predicts that total June sales translated to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15.7 million, up from 15.3 million in May and 14.4 million in June 2012.
“[T]he recent surge in consumer demand is real and not going anywhere,” TrueCar senior analyst Jesse Toprak said in a statement
Source: CNN
