Automakers ride wave of truck sales, near post-recession record

Car sales rise for all the major automakers, with Honda leading the way. Truck sales continue strong, which could lead to a 16 million unit sales for 2013.

|
Rebecca Cook/Reuters/File
Newly assembled Ford F150 pick-up trucks sit in a holding area before being transported to dealerships outside the Ford Rouge Center in Dearborn, Mich., last year. Automakers sold 15.7 million cars and light trucks in July, with trucks leading the way.

Detroit may be bankrupt, but Detroit’s automakers are on a roll.

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler all announced double-digit year-over-year increases in sales for July. So did Honda, Toyota, and Nissan as the auto industry looks to achieve its best year in sales since 2007.

In July, the industry sold cars and light trucks at an annual rate of 15.7 million, slightly down from June’s figures. But industry analysts suggest that strong sales in the fall could push the industry to the 16 million mark – a post-recession high.

The reason for the optimism? Trucks.

With sales already running strong during the first six months of the year, trucks notched another big month in July. That suggests the momentum will continue into the fall.

GM, for example, saw sales of its GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado climb 46 percent from a year ago. Overall, GM sales grew 16 percent.

Sales of Ford’s F-Series pickup climbed 23 percent for the month, helping the automaker notch an 11 percent increase overall.

Chrysler saw a similar rise: a 31 percent boost in Ram pickup sales and an 11 percent rise overall.

Among the Japanese automakers, cars and SUVs led the sales parade. Honda did the best of the three major manufacturers, with a 21 percent sales rise in July powered by its CR-V and Pilot SUVs. Toyota saw a 17 percent rise, led by the Prius and Camry, while Nissan climbed 11 percent on the back of its Altima and new Pathfinder SUV.

Smaller Subaru followed a strong June with a whopping 43 percent boost in July on the strength of sales of its Forester SUV.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Automakers ride wave of truck sales, near post-recession record
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2013/0801/Automakers-ride-wave-of-truck-sales-near-post-recession-record
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe