Chrysler's US sales accelerate

Carmakers have posted mixed results for their US sales, with Chrysler's scoring its best July performance in five years and Toyota posting big gains, while rivals Ford and General Motors stumbled.

Chrysler has now reported sales gains for 28 straight months, as July sales rose 13 per cent to 126,089 vehicles.

"July was another solid month for Chrysler Group as we again demonstrated our disciplined and methodical approach to growing sales and profits," said Reid Bigland, head of US sales.

The third largest US carmaker forecast that July's overall industry sales would come in at a seasonally-adjusted, annualised rate of 14 million once all carmakers report.

Toyota saw sales jump 26 per cent to 164,898 vehicles in the month after its inventories were shattered a year ago by supply shortages in the wake of the devastating Japanese quake and tsunami.

Ford sales fell four per cent to 173,966 as low-margin fleet sales dropped 16 per cent. More profitable retail sales rose two per cent in July.

"We think the retail market is still holding up relatively well," Ford sales analyst Erich Merkle said in a conference call.

While overall demand has slowed, Ford said it still expected total industry sales to come in at 14.5 to 15 million vehicles this year. But given July's disappointing results, it will likely be close to 14.5 million.

GM saw sales fall six per cent to 201,237 vehicles as retail sales slipped three per cent and fleet sales dropped 15 per cent due to planned reductions in low-margin sales to rental companies.

"Signs of a housing recovery and good news on consumer confidence and household income should help keep the light vehicle selling rate in the 14 million range and drive seasonally higher truck sales as we move toward fall," said Kurt McNeil, head of GM's US sales operations.

Volkswagen, which is aggressively expanding in the United States, posted a 27 per cent jump in sales to 37,014 vehicles. It was the German carmaker's best July since 1973.

"We're pleased to see consumers embracing our strong line-up of award-winning, fuel-efficient, high-quality vehicles and we expect our growth to continue," said Jonathan Browning, chief of Volkswagen Group of America.

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