Auto sales in America up in June

DETROIT – Gas prices hit a sweet spot for automakers last month. They fell far enough to spur pickup truck sales, yet remained so high that small cars sold well, sometimes just hours after reaching dealers’ lots.

That made June a good month for General Motors and Ford, which have traditionally relied on truck sales and now have strong lineups of smaller, fuel-efficient models as well.

Toyota and Honda couldn’t take advantage, however. Their sales plummeted more than 20 percent each as they ran short of cars because of the ongoing problems from the March earthquake in Japan.

Those declines – and the continuing weakness in the U.S. economy – meant sales grew more slowly in June than they might have. U.S. sales rose 7 percent to 1.05 million. Analysts had expected a double-digit gain.

Sales aren’t expected to pick back up until fall, when Japanese production is at full capacity.

General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. both said their sales rose 10 percent. And the Chevrolet Cruze small car vaulted past perennial best-sellers like the Toyota Camry and the Honda Civic to become the best-selling car in America. Chrysler Group’s sales increased 30 percent thanks to popular new products like the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 200 sedan.

Gas prices averaged $3.68 per gallon in June, cheaper than in May but hardly inexpensive. It was enough to change some buyers’ behaviors.

“There is a certain portion of consumers that react to gas prices almost on a daily basis, and they decide what to buy based on those prices,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insights for car pricing site TrueCar.com.

The industry began June with a 30-day supply of compact and subcompact cars, and inventory has only gotten tighter, Ford’s top U.S. sales analyst George Pipas said. Chevrolet has only 18 days’ worth of the subcompact Aveo to sell. Some new Ford Focus small cars sold within hours of arriving at dealerships. A 60-day supply is more typical.