The gains in July for U.S. automakers were small but strong enough for executives to declare the economy is still on track for recovery.
“In June, you had the feeling that maybe the industry wasn’t out of the woods, and there was a lot of talk of a double-dip. But June really seems to have been a blip,” head of Nissan’s U.S. brand sales Al Castignetti told Reuters.
General Motors and Ford Motors each reported an increase of 5 percent in July over sales a year earlier, results they said pointed to a slow but steady turnaround.
Hyundai’s July sales rose 19 percent while sales for its affiliate Kia were up almost 21 percent. Nissan saw gains of almost 15 percent.
GM said it was sticking to its forecast for industry-wide sales of 11.5 million to 12 million vehicles.
“I think it doesn’t show we’ll have incredible strength but it shows the recovery is still on track,” said GM’s U.S. sales chief, Don Johnson.
Source: Reuters
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