July Sales: Volume Slows, Transaction Prices Soar

by Edward Niedermeyer

Updated: February 23rd, 2023 Published: August 2nd, 2011

Sales volume grew slowly in July, as economic uncertainty and supply interruptions continued to foil a full turnaround in US sales volume. On the other hand, TrueCar reports that the consumers that did buy cars spent record amounts on average, as transaction prices soared to their highest levels in history and incentives fell. According to our developing table, the Detroit automakers are coming through July ahead of their year-ago numbers, but the Japanese automakers (who are still releasing their numbers) are expected to take a bit of punishment as they struggle to recover from the industry-crippling tsunami. Hit the jump for a full table of July sales results (developing).

AutomakerJuly 2011July 2010Pct. chng.7 month

20117 month

2010Pct. chng.BMW Group*26,16423,43312%169,949145,27217%BMW division21,40919,06412%135,114119,69613%Mini4,7114,3269%34,52725,27937%Rolls-Royce44432%3082974%BMW Group26,16423,43312%169,949145,27217%Chrysler Group LLC112,02693,31320%751,958620,53221%Chrysler Division15,42714,6925%111,495122,818–9%Dodge33,65330,9169%263,551231,38314%Dodge/Ram54,87052,1555%404,866344,47718%Fiat3,038––%7,982––%Jeep38,69126,46646%227,615153,23749%Ram21,21721,2390%141,315113,09425%Chrysler Group LLC112,02693,31320%751,958620,53221%Daimler AG**21,06918,61413%141,674128,96910%Maybach45–20%3238–16%Mercedes-Benz20,73818,04915%138,759125,02211%Smart USA327560–42%2,8833,909–26%Daimler AG21,06918,61413%141,674128,96910%Ford Motor Co.***180,315170,2086%1,250,0511,151,5609%Ford division172,501153,40013%1,199,9861,011,85419%Ford/Lincoln/Mercury180,315165,8899%1,250,0511,119,03512%Lincoln7,8145,58640%49,81749,3481%Mercury–6,903–100%24857,833–100%Volvo–4,319–100%–32,525–100%Ford Motor Co.180,315170,2086%1,250,0511,151,5609%General Motors****214,915199,6028%1,476,5251,277,20316%Buick16,87316,7990%110,47286,83127%Cadillac11,11914,919–26%87,24179,70410%Chevrolet149,005139,8587%1,053,543920,86414%GMC37,91827,76637%225,269178,60026%Hummer–210–100%–3,139–100%Pontiac–20–100%–947–100%Saab–––%–608–100%Saturn–30–100%–6,510–100%General Motors214,915199,6028%1,476,5251,277,20316%Honda (American)†80,502112,437–28%687,944706,346–3%Acura9,40213,017–28%70,08274,134–6%Honda Division71,10099,420–29%617,862632,212–2%Honda (American)80,502112,437–28%687,944706,346–3%Hyundai Group††105,06589,52517%672,966515,37631%Hyundai division59,56154,10610%382,358309,88823%Kia45,50435,41929%290,608205,48841%Hyundai Group105,06589,52517%672,966515,37631%Jaguar Land Rover3,7953,8080%27,49724,62312%Jaguar9841,516–35%7,3947,3670%Land Rover2,8112,29223%20,10317,25617%Jaguar Land Rover3,7953,8080%27,49724,62312%Maserati19915628%1,2961,06821%Maserati19915628%1,2961,06821%Mazda20,78320,7320%143,162136,4515%Mazda20,78320,7320%143,162136,4515%Mitsubishi7,9725,64841%52,08732,13862%Mitsubishi7,9725,64841%52,08732,13862%Nissan†††84,60182,3373%589,574522,66913%Infiniti7,4109,764–24%54,67857,064–4%Nissan Division77,19172,5736%534,896465,60515%Nissan84,60182,3373%589,574522,66913%Porsche2,7682,7032%18,31013,68734%Porsche2,7682,7032%18,31013,68734%Saab Cars North America‡384471–19%3,8551,209219%Saab Cars North America‡384471–19%3,8551,209219%Subaru21,73023,983–9%153,779149,9433%Subaru21,73023,983–9%153,779149,9433%Suzuki2,4471,95225%15,84913,50117%Suzuki2,4471,95225%15,84913,50117%Toyota‡‡130,802169,224–23%943,5901,015,766–7%Lexus14,53918,595–22%102,549126,025–19%Scion3,4994,653–25%30,12025,66017%Toyota division112,764145,976–23%810,921864,081–6%Toyota/Scion116,263150,629–23%841,041889,741–6%Toyota130,802169,224–23%943,5901,015,766–7%Volkswagen‡‡‡38,35431,75321%249,231206,89321%Audi9,1467,81717%65,05556,25716%Bentley14256154%98574432%VW division29,06623,88022%183,191149,89222%Volkswagen38,35431,75321%249,231206,89321%Volvo Cars North America‡‡‡‡5,595––%41,898––%Volvo Cars North America5,595––%41,898––%Other (estimate)2442411%1,7081,6861%TOTAL1,059,7301,050,1401%7,392,9036,664,89211%

#2011 #July #NewCars #Sales

Edward Niedermeyer

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11 of 17 comments

Alluster on Aug 02, 2011

The Camry is back on top. Ford sold more F-150's in July than Toyota sold Tundra's all year. Lacrosse + Regal outsold COMBINED sales of ES, IS, GS, LS, HS, CT, SC, LFA, GX and LX! Acadia outsold every 3 row crossover there is except the Traverse which outsold the Acadia by 4000 Units! Escape sold more units than Accord, Corolla, Civic, Fusion, Malibu, Altima, Focus and Sonata Compact Segment Cruze: 24,648 Corrolla: 17,577 Jetta/golf: 15,357 Elantra: 15,181 focus: 14,889 Civic: 14,006

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- SV on Aug 02, 2011
  
  The Focus has been having a problem with a dashboard component, and judging by that sales drop from last month it must be pretty serious.
  
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- Mike978 on Aug 02, 2011
  
  Interesting, so even if the Cruze has something like 30-40% fleet sales (some one last month on here made an estimate) it's retail sales would still make it 1st. That is an accomplishment since the Elantra and Jetta are not production limited.
  
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- SV on Aug 02, 2011
  
  @mike978 Actually, the Focus most certainly is production-limited at the moment; see my above post.
  
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- Pch101 on Aug 02, 2011
  @mike978 Interesting, so even if the Cruze has something like 30-40% fleet sales (some one last month on here made an estimate) it’s retail sales would still make it 1st. That was my guesstimate. (Again, it would be nice if GM would just spell it out.) GM overall fleet sales for July 2011 were 26%. I would expect that the Cruze figures for the month would be about the same or a bit higher than that. But even so, that would be a pretty impressive showing for retail.
  
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- Mike978 on Aug 02, 2011
  
  @mike978 Sv - I edited my original post before seeing your response. Edmunds made the same point you did about limited Focus supply, so I corrected my comment. PCH - I couldn`t remember who made the estimate last month, thanks. Obviously the Cruze is a retail success - which bodes well for the future which hopefully includes a hatchback along with the planned diesel.
  
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- NulloModo on Aug 02, 2011
  
  @mike978 Yes, we could have sold many more Foci if we'd had them this month. We've had a number of customers place factory orders because whatever they want just isn't available. Even before the component shortage the 2012 Focus had one of the lowest 'average days on lot' numbers, so there just wasn't any excess inventory to cushion the production problem. What really surprises me are the GM Lambda numbers. They're good vehicles, and have been popular, but the sales on both the Acadia and Traverse shot up like rockets this month. I don't know if it's due to a new lease deal, new incentives, fleet sales, or just people suddenly having a huge desire to own a GM 7 passenger CUV, but the sales increases were absolutely huge both month to month and year to year.
  
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- Rudiger on Aug 02, 2011
  
  @mike978 While it's a little early to be slapping each other on the back, it does seem that Ford and GM might (finally) have figured out how to build and sell a decent small car to rival the Japanese. Yeah, the Cruze and Focus cost more than the models they replaced, but it looks like US small car buyers are saying the price increase was worth it. With typical discounts to undercut the prices of what used to be the best-in-class competition, consumers are ponying up their dough for the domestics. The timing is even better with the new Civic being lambasted in the reviews (although the "let's see how cheap we can make it" Jetta seems to be selling okay). It remains to be seen how Toyota responds with the next Corolla but, chances are, it won't be any better than the Civic since Toyota and Honda generally just compete against each other and ignore the Americans. At least that's what they did in the past.
  
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- SV on Aug 03, 2011
  
  @mike978 Focuses are in absurdly thin supply for sure. I see them on the road with regularity now, but passing by dealerships around Houston the last few weeks, I've seen a total of two Focuses on the lot - and at just one of the dealerships. I can't spot them at any of the rest. They could be parked out back (there's an annoying predilection for Ford dealers here to display only trucks out front, even if it's the same old F-150 and there's a new Fiesta or Focus out) but there can't be many of them.
  
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- Mike978 on Aug 03, 2011
  
  @mike978 Nullo - I agree the Lambda numbers were interesting. I recall that this project back in 2007 was over budget. Obviously though it paid for them to do it right since they have left the cars pretty much alone for 5 years (so no redevelopment cost) and they continue to sell well and have good transaction prices.
  
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Obbop on Aug 02, 2011

The human horde in my part of town are more apt to steal a vehicle than buy one. But the shantys are cheap and property taxes low.

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