Chicago 01/09/2016 - Americans' appetite for new car purchases is waning as light vehicle sales disappointed in August.
It could represent a growing theme for the industry, according to Ford executives. Following years of pent-up demand following the Great Recession, customers are now keeping older vehicles longer and generally driving fewer miles than in previous years.
Seasonally adjusted, annualised new-vehicle selling rate (SAAR) for August was 16.98 million, according to research firm Autodata, below Edmunds.com SAAR estimates of 17.2 million.
"The summer isn't delivering explosive sales like we saw last year, but the industry is still on pace to set an annual sales record," Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com Executive Director of Industry Analysis, said.
General Motors paced the major auto dealers with sales hitting 256,429 total vehicles, a 5.2 percent decline year-over-year. Edmunds.com projected sales at 255,151.
Ford saw sales tumble 8.8 percent to 213,411 from the previous year as total car sales collapsed 25.4 percent to 52,148 compared with 69,877 in August 2015.
The Detroit-based company saw van sales grew 13 percent, but truck sales declined two percent. Sales bested the Edmunds.com 210,923 prediction.
Toyota sold 196,756 vehicles, a 2.4 decrease increase over the same period a year earlier. Like GM, the Japanese automaker failed to meet Edmunds.com estimate of 218,237.
Finally, FCA US, the company formerly known as Chrysler, reported sales of 196,756 units, off 2.4 percent drawdown over August 2015 and below Edmunds.com forecast of 202,783.
(Editing by Tom Jennemann)