Cruze sales for June drop 24% from ’11

Staff/wire report

Detroit

Sales of the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze continue to be down compared to the previous year, although an automotive analyst contends it is not a fair comparison.

For June there were 18,983 Cruzes sold, which is a decrease of 23.8 percent from the previous year when sales totalled 24,896, according to General Motors figures.

Thus far in 2012, sales of the Cruze are down 7.4 percent compared to the same period in 2011. They decreased from 122,972 to 113,884 through the end of June.

It is unfair to compare Cruze sales for this year to 2011, said Kristen Andersson, senior analyst for TrueCar, a vehicle information website.

“There were a lot of things going on last year including the Japanese automakers having low numbers of cars to sell and gas prices were higher,” she said.

Despite the decrease in sales, there has been a good number of Cruzes sold for the month and on the year. Any month where sales are between 18,000 and 20,000 is a healthy month for the Cruze, Andersson said. The Cruze could continue to have small spikes in sales due to gas prices.

“GM is making the sales without offering any type of crazy incentives,” she said. “The transaction numbers are going up, and that’s a good sign.”

GM overall had a good month, although some of that growth can be attributed to increases in fleet and rental car sales, Andersson said.

There are a number of mixed economic signs. Consumer confidence is down, but vehicle sales are going up. The public also is becoming more comfortable with the price of gas, she said.

“Customers seem to have gotten to a point where their vehicles have gotten older and they have to make a decision between repairing it and buying a new car,” Andersson said.

Thomas Mock, spokesman for the Lordstown GM plant, said General Motors had a good month across the board including sales of the Cruze.

Overall, automakers sold nearly 1.3 million cars and trucks in June, up 22 percent from the same month last year. Chrysler posted its best June in five years. Sales soared at Volkswagen, which is on track for its best year in the U.S. since 1973.

The results allayed fears that the car market’s momentum had stalled. U.S. sales were on track to reach 14.5 million after the first four months of the year. But the annual pace dropped to 13.8 million in May, as the stock market plunged and hiring slowed. June brought more worrisome news about jobs growth and consumer confidence.

But buyers didn’t go away last month. In fact, June’s sales pace rose to 14.1 million, according to Autodata Corp. And if sales stay at that level for all of 2012, it will be the industry’s best year since 2007.

Falling gas prices, cheaper loans and new models such as the Ford Escape and Dodge Dart drew buyers.

A revived housing market lifted sales of pickups. And there was still plenty of demand from people who bought cars in the middle of the last decade and needed to replace them.

Annual sales hit a high of 17 million in 2005, and those cars and trucks are now 7 years old.

Automakers also started their Independence Day promotions early, which juiced sales at the end of June.

Low interest rates are making deals more attractive. The average interest rate on a 60-month new-car loan is 4.5 percent, down from 6.98 percent two years ago, according to Bankrate.com. Credit availability is also improving.

Falling gas prices meant buyers were more likely to consider bigger cars and SUVs in June, not just the small cars that sold well at the beginning of the year. Jeep Liberty SUV sales rose 50 percent and the Ford Explorer jumped 35 percent. Gas averaged $3.43 per gallon at the end of June, down 41 cents from the end of March.

Pickup truck sales also improved as home building perked up. Chrysler’s Ram pickup sales rose 12 percent and sales of the Ford F-Series — the country’s best-selling vehicle — rose 11 percent.