Auto: sales of "Big Three" climb

"The recovery is slow but it is there." On Tuesday, the director of U.S. sales of General Motors (GM), Don Johnson, was optimistic. Exited bankruptcy in July 2009, restored and relieved of some of its debts, the manufacturer claims for the month of July sales in the U.S. rose 5.4% year on year to 199,692 units. Off Hummer, Saturn and Pontiac, being closed, and Saab, sold to the Dutch Spyker, sales of the first American manufacturer reached 199,432 units, up 24.6% year on year.

In detail, the Cadillac and Buick brands saw sales increase by respectively 142% and 137%. In contrast, Chevrolet, which represents the bulk of group sales with 139,916 units sold last month rose more slowly (12% on a year). The manufacturer announced the transition of its sales jumped 22.2% on a year in China last month.

Ford, the second of the Big Three, has published sales up 5% to 166,092 units sold on American soil. This increase remains well below the 13% expected by the markets awarded the title in stock (-1.44% to 12.97%). The increase is mainly attributed to the addition of trucks (+27.4%). Sales of the Ford Focus for example, have plunged nearly 30%.

The third U.S. manufacturer, Chrysler, reported an increase in sales of the same order: 5% year on year to 93,313 units, driven by the success of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee (54%). The 2011 version of this model was launched only two weeks ago. This is the first new model since the release of the bankruptcy group in June 2009."The vehicle has good national and international journals", says sales manager, Fred Diaz.

Toyota and Honda fall

The Asian competitors are not far behind. The South Korean Hyundai and Kia in particular have seen their sales increase by 19% and 21%. Japanese ad for Nissan's share of sales up 14.6%.

By contrast, Toyota saw its shipments drop 6.8% in the United States to 169,224 units. Honda also reported performance against the trend, with a decline of 5.6% of new car registrations last month.

Reassured

Analysts said the figures show an upturn for the industry according to figures from June which had emerged down compared to May "After the June data, everyone had said that, finally, the sector was not yet out of.Now, it appears that this month was a hiccup, "has said Al Castignetti, commercial director for the Nissan brand to the U.S. market.

On July alone, the American automotive market is expected to exceed the million new vehicles sold. On an annualized basis, analysts on average expect a market to 11.4 million vehicles in July, against 11.2 million a year ago and 11.08 million in June

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