U.S. automakers warn that industry has peaked as August sales slow

Fiat Chrysler dropped 1.2 percent in NY trading.In late July, Ford was the first major automaker to confirm the lofty sales gains achieved since 2010 were at an end, even though they are still about 65 percent higher than the lowest sales year in 2009.Mark LaNeve, Ford’s USA sales chief, said on Thursday the company will ring up fewer sales in 2017 than this year. Ford reported a five percent drop, and Nissan a 6.5 percent drop – a departure from high sales numbers in previous months.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s sales were up 3 per cent versus a year ago.

The results released so far point to the difficulties the industry will have stretching its streak of consecutive sales gains to a century high of seven years.

US auto sales fell about 3.5 percent in August, and some major automakers said a long-expected sales decline has begun or, at best, that sales have hit a plateau, which may spark a shift to juicer customer incentives and slowed production. Ford’s best-seller, the F-Series pickup, saw a 6-percent sales decline from last August, which was a particularly strong month for truck sales.

Through the first eight months of the year, GM’s total sales are down 4 percent to 1,962,602 units.

In July, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales ticked up to 17.88 million units, compared with 17.59 million in July 2015, according to Autodata.

GM today estimated the August SAAR at 17.2 million.

But sales declines among the largest automakers suggested that if overall sales were rising, they were doing so more slowly.

Toyota Motor said it sold 213,125 vehicles in August, down 5 percent from the same period a year ago. Deliveries slipped 3.9 percent at Chevrolet, 14 percent at GMC and 2.7 percent at Buick.

FCA US posts a 3% gain in August to 195,349 units as Jeep, Dodge and Ram brand sales offset continuing downward spirals for Chrysler, Fiat and Alfa Romeo and a 25.4% decline in vehicle sales to 28,188 for the month, WardsAuto data shows.

Honda Motor Co.’s sales dropped 4 percent to 149,571.

With the discounts eased, industrywide sales may have fallen about 3.5 percent in August, according to the average estimate in the Bloomberg survey.

Honda Motor Co was down 3.8 per cent as Accord sales tumbled 26 per cent. Honda-brand vehicle sales fell 10 per cent while truck and SUV sales rose 4.5 per cent.

Fiat Chrysler bucked the downward trend, posting a 3% increase in US sales. Infiniti sales were down 2 percent but Nissan brand sales fell 7 percent.

Nissan last recorded a tumble as steep as August’s in February 2013.

GM expects that 2016 will not be repeat of the record high for US auto sales set past year.

Even more concerning was the softness in the pickup market, where US automakers earn the most money and which has benefited from cheaper gasoline prices. Here to explain is Ford Sales Analyst, Erich Merkle.

“Despite sales beginning to cool off, the industry is still on pace for a record year”, said Eric Lyman, TrueCar’s chief industry sales analyst. Facing a dealer lawsuit and a federal probe into its sales-reporting practices, the company restated its sales results from January 2011 to June 2016. Nissan said its vehicle sales dropped 25 percent, while Toyota’s auto sales fell 12.5 percent.

Volume is expected to drop 0.4 percent at Toyota and 6.6 percent at Volkswagen/Audi.

Hyundai’s sales were flat at 72,015 vehicles. Fleet sales of 45,939 vehicles, including daily rental, commercial and government segments, were down 10 percent.