A customer looks over a Dodge Ram pickup truck as he shops for a vehicle at Sam Leman Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep in Peoria, Illinois, US (file). Chrysler’s Ram pickup deliveries surged 24% to 29,644, its best June total in six years, the company said yesterday.
Bloomberg/Southfield, Michigan
Chrysler Group, the third-largest US automaker, extended its streak of US sales gains in June and predicted demand in its largest market will keep growing even if accommodative monetary policy is scaled back.
Deliveries for Chrysler, majority owned by Fiat, rose 8.2% to 156,686 vehicles, matching the average of 10 analysts’ estimates in a survey by Bloomberg News. Ford Motor Co sales of cars and light trucks climbed 13% to 234,917, beating the 12% increase that was the average of 11 estimates.
Chrysler’s US deliveries have gained for 39 consecutive months, boosting an auto market that is on pace for its best year since 2007 as Americans replace the oldest vehicles ever on US roads. Pent-up demand, attractive financing offers and an improving economy will keep propelling industry sales as the Federal Reserve winds down its unprecedented easing programs, said Reid Bigland, Chrysler’s US sales chief.
“The fundamentals for continued growth in the new vehicle sales industry are intact,” Bigland told reporters on June 28 in Chelsea, Michigan. “The availability of credit for automotive loans is as good as it’s ever been. Pent-up demand is still a big factor out there. Even this telegraphing a little bit of tapering is a sign that the economy is getting better.”
Chrysler’s Ram pickup deliveries surged 24% to 29,644, its best June total in six years, the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company said yesterday in a statement. Deliveries of the Jeep Grand Cherokee sport-utility vehicle surged 33% to 16,626 and the Dodge Durango SUV 39% to 4,590.
Chrysler forecast an annualised industry sales rate, adjusted for seasonal trends, of 16mn for June. That projection includes medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which typically account for at least 200,000 deliveries per year.
US light-vehicle sales may have climbed 7.1% to 1.38mn, the average of 10 estimates in the Bloomberg survey. The industry sales rate may have risen to 15.6mn, the average of 17 estimates, from 14.4mn a year earlier. That would be the best monthly pace since 15.8mn in December 2007, according to researcher Autodata Corp.
The projected growth in June probably was led by Nissan Motor Co and Ford, according to analysts. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors Co paced much of the industry’s expansion through the first five months of the year, with all three gaining market share. The last time all three finished the first half of a year having increased share was 1993, according to Automotive News Data Center.
Ford has gained the most share of any automaker in the US this year. Joe Hinrichs, head of the Americas for the Dearborn, Michigan-based company, told reporters on June 27 that industry sales may have slowed the preceding week and pinned it on signalling by the Fed.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the Fed will probably taper its $85bn monthly bond-buying programme later in 2013 and halt purchases around mid-2014, citing a slowly improving economy. Still, most members of the central bank committee don’t expect to begin raising the benchmark lending rate out of its lowest-ever range of zero to 0.25% until 2015.
Nissan probably led all automakers with a 13% increase in US sales, the average of eight estimates. The Yokohama, Japan-based company’s deliveries surged 25% in May, triple the industry-wide increase, after cutting the price of seven models, including its top-selling Altima sedan.
GM, fresh off the industry’s best showing in a closely watched quality survey, may have sold 2.1% more vehicles in June than a year earlier, the average of 11 estimates. The Detroit-based automaker passed Toyota Motor Corp and led JD Power & Associates’ Initial Quality Study for the first time.
Toyota sales probably rose 6.2%, the average of eight estimates. The Toyota City, Japan-based company sees stable rates for auto buyers in the near term, Bill Fay, group vice president for US sales, said last month on Bloomberg Radio.
Honda Motor Co deliveries may have climbed 10%, the average of eight estimates. Competitors may have a tougher time offering no-interest financing that Tokyo-based Honda Motor doesn’t offer once the Federal Reserve does begin raising interest rates, said John Mendel, Honda’s head of US sales.
Combined sales for Hyundai Motor Co and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp may have slipped 1.7% in June, the average estimate of seven analysts.