TEHRAN, October 02 -Major automakers on Tuesday posted a hefty drop in U.S. new vehicle sales for September, caused in part by a decline in sales in areas hit by Hurricane Florence and a tough comparison to the previous September when consumers rushed to replace vehicles damaged by Hurricane Harvey.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -Major automakers on Tuesday posted a hefty drop in U.S. new vehicle sales for September, caused in part by a decline in sales in areas hit by Hurricane Florence and a tough comparison to the previous September when consumers rushed to replace vehicles damaged by Hurricane Harvey.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N) bucked the trend for the month, reporting a 15 percent jump in U.S. sales, led by increases in sales of its lucrative Jeeps - especially its Cherokee and Compass models - and Ram pickup trucks.
The solid performance put FCA’s total sales ahead of longtime No. 2 U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co (F.N) for the month of September.
Hurricane Florence flooded large parts of North Carolina and South Carolina last month, leaving residents to deal with the deluge instead of shopping for new cars.
Sales in September 2017 were boosted by major replacement demand for water-damaged vehicles following Hurricane Harvey, which had flooded parts of southeastern Texas in August that year.
The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of sales (SAAR) for September hit 18.1 million units in September 2017 - the highest sales pace since 2005.
Despite the sales decline versus the same month in 2017, according to Autodata Corp, which tracks industry sales, the SAAR of U.S. car and light truck sales for September came in at 17.44 million vehicles - the highest sales pace since November 2017. This was above the SAAR of 16.9 million units expected by analysts.
Source: Reuters
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