DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are reporting good news for auto sales for the month of July.
General Motors saw the biggest increase, selling 246,479 vehicles. That's a 21% in GM's core brands of Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac over July. Sales fell 20% when compared with August 2008, when GM sold strong due to the "employee pricing for everyone" incentive program.
Chevy's sales were led by the new Camaro, the Cobalt, the Aveo and the Equinox. The brand saw a 35% increase in sales over July. Sales of the Equinox jump 189% over August 2008.
GM's strong sales help push the company's inventory to an all time low. The company says it only has about 379,000 vehicles in stock.
Ford says retail sales increased 21% over a year ago. The company says that when fleet sales are included, total sales were up 17% to 176,323 vehicles. Ford's August sales increase makes the company one of the only auto manufacturers to post back-to-back sales increases.
Ford's sales increase was led by the Focus, Fusion, Escape, Edge and Flex, as well as the Mercury Mariner, all of which saw record sales for the month. The Mercury Milan also had a good month, with sales up 112%.
Ford also posted the best Ranger and F-series sales in more than a year. The Ranger jumped 57% and the F-series jumped 13%. Sales of the Taurus and EcoBoost engines also gained momentum.
Chrysler also saw a sales increase from July to August. The company reports that sales jumped 5%. However, year-to-year sales dropped 15%. The company says it sold 68,958 vehicles in the retail market for the month.
Chrysler says 17 of their 26 nameplates posted some sort of sales increase in August, including 5 of the 6 Jeep nameplates. The greatest increase came from the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the PT Cruiser. The Grand Cherokee saw its sales jump 62% over August 2008 levels. The PT Cruiser's jump was even better, seeing a 100% leap over a year ago.
