August Sales: Highlights, Lowlights

August Sales: Highlights, Lowlights

The biggest surprise to jump out of the August vehicle sales reports, issued Tuesday, was that General Motors sales were up, when they had been predicted to be down.

And, not as surprising, Toyota sales slipped for the second month.

Another surprise was the sales strength of crossovers and large trucks, especially crossovers like GM's Buick Enclave, as well as the surge of the Honda Accord.

“The biggest surprise was GM,” noted Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of industry analysis. “We thought they’d be down.”

Indeed, Edmunds.com had forecasted GM sales would be down 9.5 percent year over year, though up from July. Instead, GM’s sales rose 6.1 percent.

GM’s surprising increase delighted Wall Street, which sent GM’s stock 3.84 percent higher on Tuesday’s news.

Even more important, noted Toprak, was GM’s richer product mix. “GM did quite well with its crossovers and large trucks, which is good news since that’s where they make their money.”

In particular, GM's new crossovers - the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook -- sold like gangbusters. Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis, said the Enclave has the lowest turn rate of any GM vehicle. In response to strong demand, GM is boosting production of the crossovers.

Less surprising was the fact that Toyota sales were down as they had been in July. Toprak noted that Toyota had a blockbuster month in August 2006. “We knew there would be tough comparison.”

In addition, Toyota lowered incentive spending. “Toyota has pulled back to the extent that it may have hurt them,” said Toprak.

Case in point is the Toyota Camry vs. Honda Accord showdown. The aged Accord, which is replaced this fall, outsold the Camry, the best-selling car in America for years, in August, largely due to heavy incentive spending by Honda to move the old Accord off lots to make room for the new model.

“If you were shopping for a Japanese midsize car based on price, you likely bought the Accord in August,” said Toprak.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.