The combination of an economic downturn and $4 gas made May one of the worst sales months for the world’s automakers in recent history. But when June sales numbers are released in just a few hours, May’s results suddenly won’t look so bad.
Several industry analysts have June’s annualized sales results pegged somewhere between 12.5 million units and 14.3 million units. However, 14.3 million is at the extremely high end, with the average prediction at about 13 million units. May’s annualized sales rate was 14.3 million, according to Automotive News.
Moreover, only a handful of automakers are expected to post sales gains for June. Honda and MINI will likely see gains, but industry experts are expecting to see sharp declines for pretty much every other automaker. The Big Three are expected to be the big losers, with sales declines ranging anywhere from 25 to 35 percent. Toyota is also expected to post a sales decline – somewhere in the 5 to 10 percent range – but could possibly post a larger U.S. market share than General Motors.
It also remains possible that Honda could wrestle the number four sales spot away from Chrysler , although the odds are slightly against this scenario.
Overall, the industry is expected to be down by 15 percent.
