June Car Sales Finish Stronger Than Expected

Once again defying other shaky economic indicators, car sales in June proved to be more robust than anticipated, with gains made by most brands and across nearly all segments, including trucks, SUVs and luxury vehicles. The final tally put U.S. car and light truck sales at 1,284,935 vehicles, up 22 percent from June 2011. The result was a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of car sales of 14.1 million vehicles, above analysts' projections, and significantly higher than last June's 11.5 million SAAR. Edmunds.com had forecasted a SAAR of 13.9 million vehicles. Modest economic growth, unleashed pent-up demand, wider availability of credit and lower gas prices helped buoy sales.

A batch of new models didn't hurt. There's a "demand for newness" driving sales, noted Ford's Chief Economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwell.

Detroit automakers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, in particular, outperformed expectations, pushing domestic market share to 46.8 percent of total U.S. sales in June. Better-than-expected sales pushed the price of GM and Ford stock higher on Wednesday. Toyota and Honda underperformed expectations despite posting outsized gains due to the comparisons with last June when both suffered inventory shortages caused by the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Full-size pickup trucks, SUVs and luxury vehicles were particular standouts; earlier in the year, as gas prices soared, the scale tilted to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers. "Easing gas prices gave truck and SUV sales a boost," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. She added that in the last week of the month, shopping consideration on the Edmunds.com web site increase 10 percent for large crossover vehicles, giving domestic makes a boost. Caldwell noted more diversification of sales helps ease inventory issues and pricing ….

Here's a rundown of June sales performance by automakers:

GM: General Motors Co. reported June sales of 248,750 vehicles, up 16 percent from June 2011. It was the company's best month since September 2008, the month that Lehman Brothers collapsed, kicking off the recession, and before GM's bankruptcy, which came the following June.

GM's sales last month exceeded analysts' expectations, in part, because its percentage of sales to commercial, government and daily-rental fleets was higher than forecasted, up 36 percent from a year ago. Fleet represented 32 percent of GM's total sales. Still, in June, GM was firing on all four brands. Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC reported double-digit sales increases from a year ago. In recent months, Buick and Cadillac had struggled, posting negative comparisons to a year ago.

In addition to all brands posting increases, GM's June sales were across all segments: car sales were up 12 percent, crossover sales rose 30 percent and truck sales, which include SUVs, pickups and vans, climbed 11 percent. GM's new models, including the Buick Verano and Chevrolet Sonic, pitched in. The new Cadillac XTS flagship went on sale in June, with some 750 units sold. The closely-watched Chevrolet Volt posted sales of 1,760 units, compared with 561 sold last June. "Across the board, June was a strong month for GM," Kurt McNeil, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations, told reporters and analysts in a conference call Wednesday. He noted that new models, credit availability, lower gas prices and economic growth won out over economic and political uncertainty for the consumer.

Buick sales rose nearly 27 percent. The Verano had sales of more than 4,000 units, half of which were purchased by non-GM owners, the company said. Buick adds a turbocharged version to the Verano this fall. Enclave and LaCrosse also had higher sales; Regal sales fell. The brand adds the Buick Encore, a small crossover, to its line later this year.

With sales up nearly 12 percent from a year ago, Cadillac had its best month of the year in June, having worked through some tough year-over-year comparisons in the early months of 2012. Cadillac is re-inventing itself, reducing its sales to fleets and dropping some models to make room for new ones. The first of the new models — the flagship XTS sedan -- hit the market in June with sales totaling 753 units. The entry-level ATS, which goes head-to-head with the BMW 3 Series, goes on sale this year as well.

Chevrolet sales rose nearly 15 percent. Nearly every Chevrolet model posted a gain, except the compact Chevrolet Cruze sedan. The Cruze is sandwiched between the brand-new Sonic subcompact and the Malibu, which had a sales rise of 32 percent. Chevy is selling down the old Malibu to make way for version of the redesigned 2013 model beyond the current Eco edition. Chevrolet executives noted that while Cruze sales were down 24 percent from a year ago, it still has one of the highest transaction prices and lowest incentives in the highly competitive compact car segment.

GM's sales were up a scant 4 percent in the first half compared with the same period a year ago, and its market share slumped to a historical low. Still, GM's McNeil said the automaker was not disappointed with the half. "We knew there were going to be some economic headwinds to deal with. We had tougher year-over-year comparisons than some other manufacturers," he said, adding the second half of the year is loaded with new models including: two new Cadillacs; the new Chevrolet Spark and redesigned Malibu; the Buick Encore and Verano turbo; and a freshening of GM's large crossovers, the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia.

Ford: Ford Motor Co. reported sales of 207,759 in June, a 7-percent increase compared with June, 2011 — and Ford sales were up the same 7 percent for the first half of the year, at a total of 1.41 million sales for the first six months of 2012.

The company got a powerful sales performance from the Escape crossover, where a mix of 2012 models and the new-generation 2013 Escape combined for a 28-percent increase to a plump 28,500 units, the nameplate's best-ever single month. Ford sales executives said the all-new Escape, just coming into showrooms in volume during June, accounted for about 40 percent of the total — moreover, the new-generation Escape is staying on dealer lots an average of just five days.

Also turning in a big June for Ford was the F-Series pickup line, where 55,025 sales was a 10.9-percent gain compared with last June and the best June in five years for the F-Series; the Fusion midsize sedan, gaining 17.4 percent to 24,433 sales and a whopping 34.5-percent gain for the Explorer midsize crossover, which found 14,022 buyers for a 34.5-percent sales increase. The Flex crossover also posted a 34.5-percent sales gain (to 3,140 sales) and the Mustang line was up 16.2-percent to a second month of 5-figure sales at 10,263 units. Sales for every utility vehicle were up for the month, but aggregate sales for Ford's car lines were flat in June, though, as the Fiesta subcompact car was off 17.1 percent and the Focus compact car also endured a slight 0.9-percent decline. Total Focus sales, at 21,186 were solid, though, and Ford U.S. sales boss Ken Czubay noted that Focus retail sales were up 30 percent in June. The primary hit in Ford's total car sales, however, comes from dwindling volumes of the phasing-out Crown Victoria: Ford sold 241 in June, compared with 5,326 Crown Vics sold in June, 2011.

At the Lincoln premium-vehicle division, June sales eked out a 2.5-percent gain to 7,544 sales. A 32.9-percent gain to 3,137 sales for the unit's best-selling model, the MKZ midsize sedan, offset drops of 10.1 percent for the MKS flagship and 3.9 percent for the Navigator (yep, they're still building it) full-size SUV. The MKX crossover improved sales by 8.5 percent to 1,922 units and sales for the MKT jumped 76.5 percent to 697 sales.

Toyota: Toyota Motor Sales, including the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands, posted sales of 177,795 vehicles in June, up 60 percent from a year ago when Toyota was struggling with inventory shortages caused by the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Toyota Division reported sales of 157,773 vehicles up 58 percent from a year ago. Every vehicle in Toyota's line, except for the Avalon that is being replaced with a new model, saw an increase, some models double-digit and even others triple-digit hikes. Toyota sold 19,150 Prius models, a more than four times as many as a year ago. Hybrids in total for Toyota and Lexus totaled 25,776 vehicles, a 335-percetnt increase. Camry sales hit 32,107 units in June; Corolla had 26,647 sales. Increases extended to Toyota trucks, most notably the RAV4 with a 66-percent increase.

"June and first-half year sales were driven by consumer interest in our new models including the Prius c, the newest member of the Prius family, and the Camry, the best-selling car in America," said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. "We expect to see continued stability in the automotive market during the second half of 2012 thanks to pent-up demand, low interest rates and a continued influx of new products."

Likewise, Lexus sales soared 86 percent to 20,022 units in June, as the luxury brand winds down the old versions of its two big volume sellers, the ES sedan and RX crossover. Lexus car sales nearly doubled while utility sales soared 61 percent. Even Scion sold 8,400 vehicles for a 134-percent increase. The newly launched FR-S sports car, one of the quickest selling cars in the industry, had sales of 2,684.

Chrysler: Chrysler Group reported sales of 144,811 in June, a 20-percent increase compared with June, 2011. The company set numerous sales marks for June that haven't been bettered since 2007 and 2008. Overall, it was Chrysler's best June since 2007 and marked the 27th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains.

Of vital importance for Chrysler, June marked the first appearance of the sales charts for the Dodge Dart compact car, an all-new reincarnation of the beloved Dodge nameplate that replaces the not-so-loved Caliber. Dodge sold 202 Darts in June, although that early volume couldn't offset the 75-percent plunge for the Caliber and Dodge division total sales ended the month up 2 percent. The Chrysler brand enjoyed hefty gains from each of its nameplates: 179 percent for the 300 large car (to 6,971 sales), 51 percent for the 200 midsize sedan and 32 percent for the Town & Country minivan (to 9,021 sales). The June sales burst pulled up first-half sales for the Chrysler division 75 percent to 167,754.

The Jeep unit also continued a solid upward trajectory in June, with total sales up 23 percent and every model save the Compass (-15 percent) and Patriot (-4 percent) recording double-digit upticks for the month. The Wrangler was Jeep's best-seller in June, its 14,461 sales representing a 28-percent improvement compared with last year. Sales for the Liberty were up 50 percent to 7,892 units and the Grand Cherokee found 12,506 buyers, a 39-percent gain. Jeep sales for the first half of the year were up 28 percent to 241,547, with every nameplate on the positive side of the ledger.

Sales at the Ram truck unit improved 11 percent in June, led by a 12-percent gain for the Ram pickup line to 23,951 sales, although sales for the discontinued Dakota midsize pickup dwindled to just 18. At the Fiat small-car unit, the sales pace jumped dramatically for the divison's only model line, the 500. June sales of 4,004 translated to an outsized 122-percent improvement for the 500, and Chrysler crowed that year-to-date sales of 20,706 already surpassed 500 sales for all of 2011.

Honda: American Honda reported sales of 124,808 in June, a 48.9-percent increase compared with June, 2011 — a time when Honda's U.S. supplies were drastically curtailed from the effects of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The scale of the return from last year's supply-constrained lows was demonstrated by the Accord midsize sedan, where sales climbed 84.1 percent to 28,924 for a model that typically records sales in a relatively consistent and narrow band. In addition to the sales-pumping effect of now-normalized supplies, Honda also is entering a phase-out period for the Accord, with an all-new model coming in just a few months. Also coming back strongly in comparison to last June was the CR-V compact crossover, which saw a sales increase in June of 50.3 percent to 23,282 units. Civic sales ballooned 57.3 percent to 27,500 units, while the Odyssey minivan also recorded a large gain of 55.9 percent.

Sales for Honda's "trucks" were led by the CR-V and Odyssey, but the Pilot also neared the five-figure sales mark with a 9,959-unit run in June, a 10.2-percent increase. Sales for the Ridgeline midsize pickup jumped 101.9 percent — although to a still-meager 1,105 units — and even the unloved Crosstour version of the Accord sold 1,826 samples, a 30.0-percent gain.

The situation was not so buoyant for Honda's hybrids, however, as the two models couldn't combine to break into four-figure ground. Sales for the Insight sunk to 494 units (a 51.6-percent drop) and the CR-Z coupe slid to 409 sales. Also off in June was Honda's fuel-efficient conventional car, the subcompact Fit, for which sales tailed off by 6.7 percent to 4,584 units.

Honda's upscale Acura sales division also benefitted from comparison to a supply-deprived June last year. Acura's total sales of 15,370 represented an outsized 76.5-percent leap compared with June, 2011, with the largest-percentage gain recorded by the redesigned RDX compact crossover; RDX sales jumped 189.3 percent to 3,090 units. The larger MDX crossover posted a healthy 51.9-percent gain, translating to 5,125 sales and making the MDX the brand's best seller for the month. All of Acura's car lines posted double-digit gains except for the RL flagship — and the month's total included 1,081 incremental sales from the all-new ILX compact sedan.

Nissan: Nissan North America, including the Nissan and Infiniti brands, had sales of 92,237, up 28 percent from the year earlier and surpassing expectations. The Nissan Division had a record June with sales up 25 percent to 81,801 vehicles. Sales of Infiniti luxury models, which had been hurt more than Nissan vehicles by last year's earthquake and tsunami, rocketed 66 percent to 10,436 vehicles.

Nissan Division had strength across the board with the redesigned 2013 Altima, which just hit the market on June 26, not pitching in much. July will mark the first full month of new Altima sales. Still the old Altima had a 12-percent increase for 21,812 units sold. Nissan Rogue had its best-ever June with sales up 47 percent to nearly 11,000 units. Nissan Juke also set a June record with sales of 3,101 units, an increase of 53 percent. All Nissan trucks, SUVs and crossovers posted sales increases. The exceptions in the line were the quirky Cube, in a long slump, and the all-electric Nissan Leaf, which saw sales halved from a year ago. Nissan recently switched from customers ordering them online and being assigned to a dealer to a more traditional arrangement of Nissan selling the vehicles to dealers to sell to customers. Nissan is rolling out a plan in July to better target the Leaf to a specific customer.

Infiniti's sales rise can be attributed to better availability of vehicles than last year. In addition, the luxury marquee recently began selling a U.S.-built, luxury crossover JX that accommodates seven passengers that pitched in as well. Infiniti general manager Ben Poore told Edmunds.com that the JX is attracting a new customer to the brand — families. "We haven't seen a lot of families in our dealerships," Poore said. "Dealerships are cleaning off their play areas."

Hyundai: Hyundai Motor America reported sales of 63,813 in June, an 8-percent increase compared with June, 2011. It was Hyundai's best-ever June after setting a June sales record last year. As has been the case for much of the post-recession industry sales recovery, Hyundai appears to be able to sell more vehicles if capacity would allow: John Kracik, CEO of HMA, said retail inventories were around 28 days during the month — at the same time fleet sales dipped to just 9 percent for the first six months. Hyundai sales for the first half of 2012 were up 10 percent to 356,669.

Hyundai's volume leader in June was the Sonata midsize sedan, which posted 20,931 sales for a 12-percent improvement compared with last June. The brand's biggest gain came from the 450-percent burst for the Azera full-size sedan (to 1,001 units), plus a 57-percent jump for the Accent subcompact car in a month when mitigating gasoline prices caused sales for many small cars to recede. The company's sales continue to benefit from the incremental volume associated with the all-new Veloster coupe, which chipped in a not-inconsiderable 3,232 sales in June. The volume from the imported-from-South Korea Veloster also helps relieve some of the pressure from demand for Hyundai's U.S.-built models, Sonata and Elantra.

The Elantra remains a solid story for Hyundai, but sales in June were off by 16 percent to 17,655 as many of the major Japanese brands turned up the heat to regain market share after last year's earthquake-related losses. In addition to the Elantra, also declining for the month were the Santa Fe crossover, Tucson compact crossover and Veracruz full-size crossover.

Kia: Kia Motors America reported sales of 51,326 in June, a 14-percent increase compared with June, 2011. It was Kia's best-ever month of June and contributed to a record quarter of 150,647 sales and a record first half at 288,807 sales — a first-half improvement of 18 percent compared with the same period last year.

Kia's best-selling model continued to be the Optima midsize sedan, for which June sales totaled 13,393, a commanding 87-percent gain compared with June 2011. Kia's other big gainer was the Rio subcompact, where 3,668 sales nearly doubled last June's pace. Sales for the Sorento midsize crossover were up 8 percent to 10,826.

But the brand saw slight declines for several model lines in June, including a 9-percent slide for the Forte compact car (to 7,461 sales), the Sportage compact crossover (off 10 percent to 3,950 units) and the still-strong Soul compact hatchback, which dropped 10 percent to 10,199 sales.

Volkswagen: Volkswagen of America 38,170 vehicles in June, a 34-percent increase over the same month a year ago for its best June and best first half since 1973. The U.S.-built Volkswagen Passat led the charge, selling 10,252 units, its fourth consecutive month surpassing sales of 10,000 units. Tiguan, at 2,885 units sold, had its best June ever and up 17 percent from a year ago. The Beetle had its best June since 2002, selling 2,914 units. Golf sales rose 24 percent. Within the Golf numbers were 447 sales of the new Golf R. Touareg sales were up 75 percent to 794 units.

Volume-leader Jetta saw a 21-percent sales decline to 13,604 units. The drop was largely due to lack of availability, a persistent problem for Volkswagen, especially for the popular TDI SportWagen. Sales of TDI models increased from a year ago, accounting for 19.2 percent of Volkswagen sales in June. Also lower than a year ago were the Routan minivan, CC and Eos.

Subaru: Subaru of America set a new June record with sales of 27,702 vehicles, a 40-percent gain from a year ago. Subaru was led this June by the new, high fuel-economy 2012 Impreza, which saw sales soar 147 percent to 5,181 units. Every model in Subaru's portfolio posted a sales gain year-to-year: Forester, up 32 percent to 7,233 vehicles; Impreza WRX, up 72 percent to 1,138 vehicles; Legacy up 12 percent to 3,894 vehicles; and Outback, up 17 percent to 9,254 vehicles. Even the quirky Tribeca crossover kicked in a 2-percent gain with 184 sold. The Subaru BRZ sports car, the fastest selling car in May, chalked up sales of 818 units.

BMW Group: The BMW Group, including the BMW and Mini brands combined, sold 27,720 vehicles, up 3 percent from a year ago. "The June numbers continue the solid, consistent growth we predicted but, most important, the first six months of the year are setting the stage for even better results ahead," said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America, LLC. "Demand is strong though we've been constrained by new model ramp up but supply will soon catch up in the second half of the year."

BMW-branded vehicles posted a scant .4 percent gain of 21,725 vehicles from 21,637 sold in June 2011. BMW's top performers were the: 5 Series, up 23percent to 5,374 units and the 6 Series, up 106 percent to 642 units. BMW's car sales in total were off 8 percent to 14,236 units, largely due to declines of 3 Series sales, which were off 26 percent to 6,740 units, partly due to lack of availability of the new model. Z4 sales were down 52 percent to 240 units and 7 Series sales were down 1 percent to 539 units. Sales of the 1 Series posted a 17-percent gain to 701 units.

On the utility side, X3, X5 and X6 sales combined rose 22 percent to 7,489 units. The volume leading X5 had sales of 4,015 units, up 27 percent; x3 sales rose 18 percent to 2,825 units; and X6 sales climbed 5 percent to 649 units.

Despite declining gas prices, Mini had record June sales of 5,995 vehicles, up 25 percent from a year ago. The biggest increases came from the Countryman, up 28 percent to 1,819 units. The volume-leading Cooper had sales up of the hardtop and convertible but down for the Clubman. The new Roadster kicked in 224 sales.

Mercedes-Benz: Mercedes-Benz USA had total sales up 13 percent to 25,388 vehicles, the best-ever month for the Mercedes, Smart and Sprinter brands individually and collectively. "This marks a historic milestone for Mercedes-Benz in the U.S. market. Not only did we post all-time record sales across all three business units in June, we achieved our highest half-year sales in our 47-year history," said Steve Cannon President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA.

The Mercedes-Benz brand posted June sales up 8 percent to 22,231 vehicles. Sales of the volume-leader C-Class rose 41 percent to 6,506 cars. E-Class sales dipped 4 percent to 5,580 units. And third best-seller M-Class SUV sales slipped 6 percent to 2,891 vehicles. The rest of Mercedes' line was a mixed bag: S-Class down 16 percent to 981 units; CL-Class up 9 percent to 58 cars; SL-Class up 217 percent to 346 units; R-Class up 768 percent to 651 units; G-Class down to a mere 50 units from 146; GL-Class down 25 percent to 1,938 SUVs; and GLK up 8 percent to 2,051 units. Sales of the high-performance AMG models were 515, up 75 percent. Sales of BlueTEC diesel models were up 50 percent 8,945 units.

The Smart brand, which was pulled away from the Penske Automotive Group and placed under the Mercedes-Benz USA umbrella last July, had its highest reported volume since the Cash for Clunkers month of August 2009. Sales hit 1,017 units, a 208 percent rise from 330 a year ago.

Sprinter van sales rose 12 percent to 2,140 units in June, its best-ever June sales.

Mazda: Mazda North American Operations reported June sales of 19,911 vehicles, a 3-percent increase from a year ago. In its fourth month of sales, the CX-5 posted sales of 4,551 units, up 14 percent from the prior month. Mazda3 had its best June since 2008 with 8,835 vehicles sold, up 3 percent from a year ago, with 73.6 percent of them equipped with Mazda's new Skyactiv technology. The Mazda MX-5 Miata had its best June since 2008 with 659 vehicles sold, up 30 percent from a year ago. Sales of the Mazda2 and Mazda5 cars as well as the CX-7 and CX-9 sport utilities were down double digits.

Skyactive accounted for 55 percent of the company's June sales. In response to global demand far outstripping expectations for the fuel-saving technology, the automaker has announced it will double production capacity of powertrain at its engine plant in Hiroshima, Japan.

Audi: Audi announced it had its best-ever month for sales in its 42-year U.S. history. The German automaker sold 12,664 vehicles, up 26 percent from a year ago and beating the prior record of 12,655 sold in December 2011. June also closed out the best first-half for Audi in its U.S. history. Audi executives said they were confident the company would set a new annual record this year, topping 2011's 117,561 vehicles. "The best is yet to come for this year as new, or substantially updated, models representing 60 percent of our sales volume are only now reaching dealerships in the U.S.," said Mark Del Rosso, Audi of America's chief operating officer.

Four models — A3, A6, A8 and Q5 — recorded year-over-year sales increases exceeding 20 percent. A3 sales rose 46 percent to 620 units. A6 sales soared 227 percent to 1,745 vehicles. A8 rose 24 percent to 597 units. Q5 sales climbed 61 percent to 2,780 vehicles. A4 kicked in a 3-percent increase to 3,707 vehicles, while the A5 gained 18 percent to 1,607 vehicles. The TT eked out a 2-percent gain to 190 units. Reporting declines were the Q7 SUV, down 18 percent to 688 units, and R8, down 28 percent to 78 units.

Sales of Audi's premium vehicles — A8, A7, A6 and Q7 — represented 29 percent of June sales. Audi's diesel sales made up 65 percent of A3 and 37 percent of Q7 sales.

Volvo: Volvo Cars of North America reported June sales of 7,107 units, about flat with a year ago. Volvo's volume sellers was the S60 sports sedan with 2,649 units sold, up 9 percent, followed by the XC60 with 1,626 units sold, a 21 percent. Sales of the C70 SUV rose 53 percent to 547 units; the S80 eked out a 1 percent sales hike to 496 units.

Mitsubishi: Mitsubishi Motors North America's June sales plummeted by 35 percent to 5,411 units, from 8,200 a year ago. The only models posting an increase were the: Outlander Sport, up 13-percent; Galant, up 116 percent to 1,461 sold). the Lancer Evo, up 31 percent to 206 units. Mitsubishi begins producing the Outlander Sport at its Normal, Ill., plant this summer. Mitsubishi sold 33 units of its all-electric i model.

Jaguar Land Rover: Jaguar Land Rover North America sold 4,632 cars and sport utilities in June for an increase of 2 percent from a year ago. Land Rover sales rose 14 percent to 3,602 SUVs. Jaguar sales were down 26 percent to 1,030 vehicles. June's volume leader was the Range Rover Sport with 1,235 units sold, on par with 1,233 in 2011. The new Range Rover Evoque, winner of the 2012 North American Truck of the Year, hit 663 units sold in June. Jaguar's volume leader in June was the XJ with 489 sold, up 3 percent from a year ago.

"Jaguar Land Rover's June U.S. sales this year were up two percent as we begin transition into a very important 2013 model year for both brands," said Andy Goss, President, and Jaguar Land Rover North America. "We are pleased to complete the first half of the year with sales growth from both Jaguar and Land Rover brands in the United States."

Porsche: Porsche Cars North America, Inc. had sales of 2,546 in June, an 18-percent sales hike from a year ago. "June was an exciting month for sports car fans. The all-new Boxster models arrived in Porsche dealerships right at the end of the month joining the recently introduced seventh-generation 911 coupe and cabriolet models," said PCNA's President and CEO, Detlev von Platen. Every model in Porsche's line posted an increase. Sales of the new 911 soared 44-percent ahead of a year ago to 861 cars. Boxster/Cayman sales rose 117 percent, totaling 490 units with 458 of those being the new 2013 Boxster. Cayenne sales edged higher to 1,032 units from 1,009 a year ago. Panamera sales also eked out an increase to 619 units from 609.

Suzuki: American Suzuki Motor Corp. reported June sales of 2,299 vehicles, up 1 percent from last year. June's sales increase was led by a 5-percent increase in SX4 sales. Vitara sales had a 2-percent rise. Suzuki said it will continue its zero-percent financing program into July.