Total light vehicle sales last month came in at just over 1.4m, 9.1% ahead of June 2012. That works out to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate (SAAR) of 15.96m, the highest since November 2007, the same month SAAR was last above 16m. The Detroit automakers all reported improved sales with Ford’s 13.4% gain leading the way. As a group, the Americans picked up 0.1% of market share, rising to 46.8% of total sales.
Full-size pickups continued to drive sales. In June, 24.0% of the total Chrysler, Ford and General Motors tallies were pickups, up from 20.8% last June.
General Motors’ retail sales were up, led by the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and the Chevrolet Cruze, which supplanted the Ford Fusion as the best-selling American-badged car for the month. The only GM division to miss its mark was Buick which was weighed down by slow sales of the LaCrosse and Regal.
Ford highlights were the Edge, up 32.4% and F-series pickup, which helped the blue oval achieve the largest sales gain of the Detroit automakers. One interesting trend can be seen in sales of Ford’s dedicated police vehicles: the Explorer-based Police Interceptor Utility is clearly outselling the Taurus-based Police Interceptor sedan. The capacious boot of the Crown Victoria is being replaced by an SUV.
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