OEMs Report July's Auto Sales … 'cept for Detroit

It’s tough to gauge the state of car sales in America on a monthly basis these days. The entirety of the Detroit Three have moved to a quarterly reporting system, leaving a gap the size of a ‘70s land yacht in this month’s numbers.

Still, we press on. The remaining manufacturers are still reporting each month — for now — which gives us at least a partial picture as to the lay of the land. Many brands enjoyed a month-over-month increase in July but the year-to-date results are a bit of a mixed bag.

With three very large holes in the data, we’ve dispensed with the usual charting. Yell at us in the comments if you want it back.

The larger of the non-Detroit manufacturers, Honda and Toyota, were roughly flat compared to the same time last year. Honda’s volume went up about 3,000 units to 128,537 while Toyota dealt about 800 more machines to ring up 184,179 sales. So far this year, Honda is off by about a single percentage point while Toyota is down about three.

Hyundai had a stellar (pun intended) July, raking in more than 6,000 extra sales compared to last July. That works out to a 12.1 percent increase, if you’re wondering. The large-and-in-charge Palisade counted for 4,464 of that new volume, putting an exclamation point on the importance of this new SUV for Hyundai. This positive result builds on successes the brand realized earlier in the year, pushing gains through the first seven months of 2019 to 3.1 percent (roughly 12,000 extra units).

Mazda, for reasons known only to wizards and clairvoyants, continues its slide into the doldrums. Last month’s performance fell by about 900 vehicles compared to last July, bringing its year-to-date sales to an alarming 13.9 percent below 2018 levels. It’s a difference on 26,202 units, to be exact. The fall is baffling, especially since Mazdas are reliably the most stylish in their class and frequently the most sporty.

Subaru continues its relentless march northward, posting its best ever July on its way to racking up 92 consecutive months of yearly, month-over-month growth. That’s a lot of all-wheel drive systems. In terms of specific models, it was also the best July on record for Outback, while Ascent continues to do extremely well. It certainly doesn’t seem like the three-row machine is cannibalizing its own family as some had feared.

Talking heads are still expecting total sales in 2019 to rest south of 17 million units once the dust settles. For those who care, there were 25 selling days last month, one fewer than July 2018.