World Vehicle Sales Climb 1.5% in July; Top 50 Million for Year

Global sales increased year-over-year for the 13^th consecutive month in July, based on the most recent data from WardsAuto.

However, July’s total of 6.87 million units, up 1.5% from year-ago, was the smallest monthly volume since February’s 6.5 million.

Year-to-date 2014 sales topped the 50 million mark during July, finishing the first seven months at 50.2 million, 2.6% above like-2013.

Gains witnessed in North America and the Asia-Pacific region kept worldwide deliveries in positive territory in July.

Sales in North America surged 9.6% in the month with 1.7 million vehicles sold, accounting for 25.4% of the worldwide market.

Deliveries in the U.S. and Mexico continued to thrive in July, up 9.4% and 10.1%, respectively. Canada also posted solid growth, climbing 11.3%, the largest year-over-year increase for the country since May 2012. This was due in part to having an extra selling day in the month as well as posting a sharp increase in light trucks.

Asia-Pacific deliveries climbed 1.7% from year-ago to 3.1 million units in July, but the increase was the region’s smallest on record since April 2013’s 1.5% upturn.

China, the region’s largest market, saw deliveries soar 6.5% in the month. Sales in India also rose, up 2.0%, while Japan posted a loss of 2.5% following a 1-month stint in positive territory.

In July, the Asia-Pacific region garnered a 44.6% share of global volume.

Vehicle sales in Europe remained relatively flat in the month, down just 0.7% from like-2013 to 1.5 million vehicles.

Significant increases witnessed in Germany (+6.4%), Italy (+8.8%) and the U.K. (+8.9%) negated the declines reported in France (-4.4%), Russia (-22.0%) and the Netherlands (-1.6%).

South America also posted a drop in sales in July, down 16.8% to 437,000 units, accounting for 6.4% of the worldwide market.

Nearly every country in the region recorded downfalls in the month with the biggest loss reported by Venezuela. Sales in Venezuela plummeted 81.8% to just 1,500 units, slightly better than the 86.0% drop witnessed in June, a possible sign that the country’s struggling economy may be on the road to recovery in the coming months.

Deliveries in Brazil fell 13.9% in July, while Argentina and Chile saw sales drop 33.5% and 14.1%, respectively.

[email protected]