Here is the meat of the car sales numbers. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of sales stood at 11million for the month of July, up significantly from the sub 10 million mark in June.

The major manufacturers that have reported so far show the following year-over-year results:

Ford                                      +2.4%

GM                                        -19.4%

Honda                                   -17.3%

Toyota                                  -11.4%

Chrysler                                -9.4%

Hyundai                                +11.9%

“Cash for clunkers” is given most of the credit for the better numbers with the usual caveat that it merely accelerated sales from later in the year. I think there’s a lot of truth to that but I also think that some of the growth in sales is probably real. The fleet is getting old and turnover is going to occur with or without C4C.

Still at an 11 million annual run rate, the industry is far from healthy.

more: here