ARLINGTON, Va. — NAFCU released a Macro Data Flash report on vehicle sales that showed that total vehicle sales in June 2008 decreased to the lowest level since 1993.
Total vehicle sales decreased from 14.3 million annualized units in May 2008 to 13.6 million annualized units in June 2008. Also, over the past 12 months sales are down by 13.4%.
Car sales fell from 7.9 million annualized units in May to 7.5 million annualized units in June and sales of light trucks decline by 0.2 million annualized units. June was also the third consecutive month that the share of light trucks was below 50%.
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Year-over-year sales of the big three domestic vehicle manufacturers and two of the big three Japanese vehicle manufacturers fell in June. Only Honda reported an increase in sales compared to last year.
The domestic manufacturers' share of the total vehicle market increased from 45% in May to 46% in June and at the same time the import share of sales increased from 27.6% in May to 29% in June.
NAFCU Staff Economist Katrin O'Connor attributed the decrease to high gas and food prices, tighter credit availability and the weakening of the labor market. O'Connor also said that sales were hurt due to the fact that automakers could not adjust fast enough to the changing in need from pickup trucks and SUVs to more fuel-efficient smaller cars. She predicts that vehicle sales are expected to slow down from 16.1 million units in 2007 to 15 million units or less this year.
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