For the month of July 2011, the automotive industry proved that the SUV still has a fighting chance. According to the figures released for July, sales of total SUVs has increased 20.2 percent from July 2010 not including crossover sales. Comparatively, total car sales actually dropped 3 percent compared to July 2010. Total truck sales increased, but only slightly from last year with a 4.8 percent difference. Despite the SUV making the largest strides, the truck still managed to top the charts as 551,800 pickups were sold in the United States during July. With that came another victory for the Ford F-Series, which for another month in a row, earned best-selling overall vehicle.
During July 2011, 49,104 Ford F-Series trucks were sold. It may have been the top-selling vehicle, but that figure is 2.7 percent less than July last year. The second and third best-selling vehicles, the Chevrolet Silverado and Toyota Camry, also dropped compared to 2010 (4.5 and 22.9 percent respectively). A major increase from last year was the fifth place Ford Escape, which at a total of 24,411 units sold, climbed 66.2 percent. The Chevrolet Equinox also improved from July 2010 with 17,094 units sold, a 70.3 percent increase.
The battle for top manufacture during July 2011 was won by General Motors. 214,915 vehicles were sold in the U.S. with a majority of that coming from truck sales. Second best was Ford Motor Company with 180,315 units sold. The other member of the Big Three, Chrysler LLC, ranked fourth with 112,026 total sales. With a 20.1 percent increase from July 2010, it is clear that Chrysler’s rebirth is starting to take effect.
Even though Toyota Motor Company placed third with 130,802 products sold in July, the Japanese company has been falling in America. That figure is down 22.7 percent compared to 2010 and year-to-date sales for 2011 are down 7.1 percent. Perhaps hurting more is Honda America which fell to 80,502 units sold, a decrease of 28.4 percent compared to July 2010’s figure of 112,437. Not to give imports a bad name, Hyundai sales in the U.S. have increased 10.1 percent since last year while Mitsubishi sales went up 41.1 percent. Volkswagen seems to be riding its new Jetta to the top with 29,066 vehicles sold in July, a 21.7 percent increase.
During July 2011, there were a total of 2,768 Porsches sold in the United States. Unfortunately, only 384 Saab vehicles were purchased, a decrease of 18.3 percent since last year. 142 Bentleys were purchased, Ferrari earned 97 new customers and Rolls Royce sold 35 cars. One Maybach was sold during entire month. For the 26 selling days of July 2011, a total of 1,059,601 light vehicles were sold in the United States. Compared to July 2010, that is a .9 percent increase.
Source: The Wall Street Journel
