Bill Perkins has been a Chevrolet dealer for 20-years in the suburban area of Detroit. He remembers when only one or two cars had been in the showroom worth selling amongst the sports utility vehicles and large pickups.
Now, said Perkins, there is a complete range of small cars. Sales in his store located in Taylor, Michigan increased by 21% during July from the same month a year earlier.
At this moment, for automakers in Detroit it is the best of both. Smaller cars together with pickups, helped to drive sales gains in the U.S. amongst the Big Three in Detroit during July.
Small Cars at General Motors, including their Cruze and Spark posted increased in combined sales of 42% for July, which nearly matched the 44% increased by the full-sized pickups.
At Ford Motor Co, the small cars, including the Focus and Fiesta, combined to increase in sales by 32%, which outpaced its 23% increase for the pickups in the F-Series.
One analyst said this is brand new territory for the automakers as they are holding their own and have taken a share in some segments that before they had not been competitive in.
Gains that were reported during the week at Chrysler, Ford and GM along with increases of a minimum of 11% at the three largest automakers in Japan extended the auto industry resurgence that has but the market back on course to have its best sales year since 2007.
Stocks related to automobiles have helped to rally this year’s S&P 500 suggesting investors believe the gains in sales for Ford and GM will continue.
