Much of the auto industry, with the notable exception of Tesla, reported modest sales growth in the three months to June as high interest rates, high vehicle prices and uncertainty about the economy weighed on consumers.
Sales at the end of June were also slowed by outages at auto dealerships stemming from a cyberattack on a company that provides software and data services to dealerships.
Cox Automotive, a market research firm, estimated on Tuesday that 4.1 million new cars and trucks were sold in the second quarter in the United States, slightly more than in the period of 2023. That is a significant slowdown from the first three months of the year, when sales increased by 5%. In the first six months of 2024, 7.9 million new vehicles were sold, a 3 percent increase from the first half of last year, Cox said.
Slow growth is likely to continue through the end of the year, said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Cox. “The market has been rattled by uncertainty,” he said. “We probably can’t keep up the sales pace of the first half, but we don’t expect a sales collapse.”
Cox has predicted that 15.9 million new cars and trucks will be sold in the United States this year. That would be an increase from the 15.5 million sold last year, but still well below the 17 million vehicles sold annually before the pandemic.
General Motors said Tuesday it sold nearly 700,000 cars and light trucks in the United States in the second quarter, an increase of less than 1 percent from the year-ago period. The company said it was its best performance since the fourth quarter of 2020.
The quarterly total included nearly 22,000 electric vehicles, up 40 percent from last year. Almost all were models using GM’s most advanced Ultium battery technology. The best-selling electric models were the Cadillac Lyriq, a luxury sport utility vehicle, and the Chevrolet Blazer, also an SUV
GM said sales in the first six months of 2024 totaled 1.3 million vehicles, down slightly from the same period in 2023.
Toyota sold more than 621,000 vehicles in the second quarter in the United States, a 9 percent increase over the year-ago period. In the first three months of the year, Toyota’s sales increased by 20%.
Japan’s automaker, the world’s largest, continues to be buoyed by hybrid and plug-in hybrid models, sales of which have grown significantly as consumer interest in electric vehicles has waned. Toyota sold nearly 250,000 hybrid and electric models in the second quarter, up 63% from the 2023 period.
Reflecting the decline in demand for electric vehicles, Tesla said its global sales fell 4.8 percent to about 444,000 in the second quarter from a year ago. The company’s sales have fallen for two straight quarters. fell 8.5% in the first three months of the year compared to the previous year.
Tesla does not report sales for the US market. Cox estimated that Tesla’s US sales fell 16% in the second quarter, to 175,000 cars.
The company’s global sales for the second quarter were higher than analysts expected, supported by price cuts in some markets and the company’s offer of loans with interest rates of up to 1 percent for its Model Y sport utility vehicle.
Tesla once had the market for electric cars almost to itself, but has faced increasing competition from Chinese automakers such as BYD, Nio and SAIC. Chinese brands undercut Tesla’s price in their home market while offering features such as dashboard screens that can be rotated with voice commands.
BYD said Monday that its electric vehicle sales for the second quarter rose 21 percent from a year earlier and 40 percent when plug-in hybrid cars were included.
In Europe, Tesla was in fifth place in April in electric car sales, according to Schmidt Automotive Research, behind Volkswagen. Geely Auto, which owns Volvo and Polestar. Stellandis, which owns Peugeot and Fiat. and BMWs.
Tesla’s electric vehicle market share in the United States is expected to fall below 50 percent this year as GM, Honda and other established automakers offer models with newer designs than the Model Y and Model 3, which account for 95 percent of Tesla’s sales.
Stellantis — the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep vehicles — saw sales decline 21 percent in the second quarter, to about 345,000 cars and trucks.
As a result, Stellantis slipped behind Honda and Hyundai-Kia in sales. Honda said its U.S. sales rose 3 percent in the second quarter to more than 356,000 vehicles. Hyundai and Kia combined sold 421,558 cars and trucks.
Ford Motor is expected to release sales figures on Wednesday.
Cox said the average price of new vehicles sold domestically in May was $48,389, close to the record high of about $50,000 set at the end of 2022.
High interest rates have also curbed demand. The average interest rate paid on new vehicle loans in June was 10 percent, the highest in 24 years, Cox said.
