Monday reports on July vehicle sales expected to be solid

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Automakers are expected to post Monday another solid month of sales for July, analysts say.

Kelley Blue Book and TrueCar analysts expect new vehicle sales to hit 1.47 million units for a 2.6 percent year-over-year increase.

“I think the story for this month, and for coming months, is the modest and slow growth,” said Tim Fleming, analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “I don’t think we have reached our peak yet, but we may be nearing it.”

Sales in the first half of the year came in at 8.5 million units for a year-over-year increase of 4.4 percent and the highest first half of the year sales volume since 2005. KBB expects sales this year to hit 17.1 million units overall for a 3.6 percent increase over last year.

Trending again in the month of July will be the compact sport utility vehicles. But KBB still expects the compact-car and midsize-car segments to be the two leading segments this year.

For the month of July, compact cars, which includes the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze, are expected to reach sales of 210,000.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.