General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles All Suffer Big U.S. Sales Drops in July

As U.S. auto sales are forecasted to fall between 5 and 6 percent in July 2017, the reports released this morning by the traditional Detroit Three — General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — appear to be worse than average.

Due to decreased year-over-year volume at each of its four brands, including a harsh 30-percent decrease at Buick, General Motors plunged 15 percent to 226,107 sales. That loss equalled 41,151 fewer sales for America’s largest automobile seller. At Ford Motor Company, total sales fell 7 percent despite rising F-Series sales. Car volume tumbled 19 percent at Ford and Lincoln, and SUV/crossover sales were up only slightly. At FCA, meanwhile, a 10-percent overall decline was caused by decreased volume at Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, and Fiat.

Fortunately, there remain reasons for optimism.

At each automaker, much of the decline was caused by huge reductions in fleet sales. At FCA, a 35-percent reduction in less profitable fleet sales — sales that are often not of long-term benefit to FCA — resulted in 90 percent of FCA volume coming on the retail side of the ledger. The Jeep Compass, the most recent major FCA launch, produced its best July ever with 7,528 sales. Ram P/U sales were essentially flat despite company-wide declines. And despite mountains of negative press ensuing from breakdowns and software maladies, July’s 1,104 sales represented the best month yet for the Alfa Romeo Giulia.

At Ford, retail demand dipped only slightly, falling 1 percent to 159,492 units. It was a huge 26-percent fleet sales decrease that produced much of the Blue Oval’s 7.4-percent decline. Ford says the average transaction price on its F-Series trucks jumped $2,500 compared with a year ago to $45,000 per truck, and Super Duty ATPs rose by roughly $4,600 to $55,000 per truck. Although Lincoln’s utility vehicles reported across-the-board decreases, Ford brand SUVs/crossovers were up 3 percent. The Escape, Edge, and Explorer jumped 8 percent to 60,401 sales. F-Series volume rose 6 percent to 69,467 units.

General Motors relied on profitable crossovers and pickup trucks for four-fifths of the company’s July 2017 U.S. volume. Utilities formed 85 percent of Buick’s sales. GM says incentive spending in July was lower than the 2016 average while the company’s average transaction prices stood at $36,000, up about $1,000 compared with July 2016.

According to Kurt McNeil, GM’s vice president of sales operations, “We have strategically decided to reduce car production rather than increase incentive spending or dump vehicles into daily rental fleets, like some of our competitors.” GM’s sales to daily rental fleets were down 81 percent in July, forming 1 percent of the company’s volume, GM says.

If there are positive signs, why did Detroit sales tank?

Because of cars.

At General Motors, car sales fell 28 percent, year-over-year, a loss of nearly 18,000 sales. At Ford Motor Company, car volume fell by nearly a fifth, a loss of 11,595 sales caused in large part by the Fusion’s 42-percent slide to sub-14K levels. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ car sales fell 18 percent to only 19,409 units at Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo. That’s only 12 percent of the company’s total July U.S. volume.

[Image: GM, FCA, Ford]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.