US Auto Sales Accelerate While Others Slow
By George Polgar
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Though sales tallies show a number of major carmakers including Ford, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai posting year-over-year sales declines in May, the US auto sector continues its steady growth with an industry-wide increase of 1.6 percent and an annualized sales rate of 17.8 million units, the best showing in a decade.
Notably while the Ford F-150 still maintains its overall US best selling vehicle ranking, sales of the new all-aluminum bodied pick-up were down 9.7 percent from last May. And while the popular Ford Fusion sedan and Escape small SUV also saw declines, the Focus sub-compact and newly revised Ford Edge saw increases.
At Nissan, on a market share drive that has seen them cut into the lead of Japanese competitors Honda and Toyota, the brand saw 0.8 percent decline while its globally popular Rogue crossover SUV was the biggest gaining single model with a 38.3 percent US sales jump. And with the strength of its stunning and value packed new Murano SUV and the just previewed all new flagship Maxima full sized sedan, Nissan still has significant sales traction into the second half of the year.