General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV reported June U.S. sales that trailed analysts' estimates, while Nissan Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co. beat projections as the industry faces concerns that the market is slowing and that the United Kingdom's decision to exit the European Union will generate new head winds.
GM deliveries fell 1.6 percent as the largest U.S. automaker continues to reduce less-profitable business with rental fleets. The Detroit-based company said retail sales to individuals rose more than 1 percent.
Nissan sales jumped 13 percent to a June record, while Ford's 6.4 percent light-vehicle increase and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' 6.5 percent growth were led by pickups and sport utility vehicles. Analysts projected gains for all of the six largest automakers except GM.
"In spite of some severe stock market volatility in June, the American consumer stayed focused on buying new vehicles and propelled FCA to six vehicle sales records last month," Fiat Chrysler's sales chief Reid Bigland said in a statement.
Yet even as U.S. industrywide sales through May outpaced 2015, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were taking a less optimistic view for this year. Their average outlook for the full year slid to below 17.7 million cars and light trucks, from an estimate of 17.8 million in January.
GM's June decline included a 3.7 percent drop for the Chevy Silverado large pickup. Two of its big SUVs, the Chevy Suburban and the Cadillac Escalade, had gains of 33 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
Strong truck sales drove Ford's light-vehicle deliveries, which beat estimates of a 4.9 percent gain. The automaker also said its sales in the first half of the year were the best in a decade.
F-Series pickup sales surged 29 percent in June to 70,937 units. Sales of Transit commercial vans rose 19 percent, and those of Escape SUV rose 20 percent. Ford's sedans continued to struggle, led by a 49 percent drop in sales of the subcompact Fiesta and a 44 percent decline in Taurus deliveries.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' deliveries were shy of the 8.9 percent gain analysts had projected. Jeep sales rose 17 percent, but car and minivan deliveries fell 13 percent.
Nissan sales exceed analysts' average estimate of a 7.2 percent gain. The Nissan brand showed balanced growth: Car sales rose 13 percent, and light-truck sales rose 14 percent. That included surges of 26 percent for the Rogue crossover, 44 percent for the Versa compact car and 22 percent for the Maxima sedan. Sales of premium Infiniti models increased 11 percent.
For June, analysts projected a 17.2 million seasonally adjusted annual selling rate, which would exceed the 17 million pace in the year-earlier month while trailing May's 17.5 million mark.
The reduced full-year estimate came as U.S. employers in May added the fewest jobs in six years and as the British vote last week to leave the EU spooked financial markets.
"There certainly is a higher probability of having a slightly down year than there was a month ago," Jeff Schuster, an analyst with research firm LMC Automotive, said in an interview. "It's no longer just a leveling off -- it's a potential contraction in the second half of the year."
The real question is whether growth has peaked. The year was already at a critical pivot point as prospects dim for a repeat of 2015, when a slow first half gave way to an ebullient final six months starting in July in which the annual sales rate often exceeded 18 million. One reason for the nervousness: U.S. employers added the fewest jobs in almost six years in May.
"If we don't see that bump up in July" sales, LMC's Schuster said, "that's going to start us down that path of fairly regular misses on a monthly basis."
Information for this article was contributed by John Lear and Keith Naughton of Bloomberg News.
Business on 07/02/2016