Keith Naughton, Jade Thomas and Chester Dawson
5 min read
In This Article:
(Bloomberg) -- US auto sales are losing momentum after a springtime surge fueled by shoppers racing to buy cars before President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs drove up prices.
Most Read from Bloomberg
General Motors Co. said deliveries rose 7.3% in the second quarter, as industrywide demand cooled following a stronger-than-expected April and May. Ford Motor Co.’s second-quarter sales jumped 14%, helped by its employee-pricing-for-everyone discount program, though it saw the pace of growth moderate in June.
Toyota Motor Corp.’s sales in April-through-June period rose 7.2%, but volumes were essentially flat last month.
“We did have a lot of pull-forward business, I think the whole industry did” from late March into early May, said David Christ, the head of Toyota brand sales in the US. Since then, “the sales pace returned to what I call more normal,” he told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.
Shoppers rushed to showrooms earlier this year as beating tariff-induced price increases became a motivation to buy, pushing up second-quarter sales an estimated 2.5% from the prior-year period, according to industry researcher J.D. Power.
Some automakers are now seeing consumers retreat. Subaru Corp.’s June deliveries dropped 16%. Kia Corp.’s volume fell 3.2%, limiting the South Korean carmaker’s total second-quarter gain to 5%. Nissan Motor Co. sales declined 6.5% in the most recent three months, while Honda Motor Co.’s deliveries rose 8.4%, including a gain of just 1.5% in June.
The annual automotive selling rate likely fell to 15 million in June — the slowest pace in the last 12 months — from 17.6 million in April as consumers grow cautious about big-ticket purchases over worries about the economy. With already high car prices expected to rise further as automakers manage billions of dollars in tariff costs, it may only get worse from here.
“The party is over,” Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for researcher Cox Automotive Inc., said in an interview.
Smoke sees the annualized monthly rate of US auto sales sticking around 15 million in the second half of the year, down from 16.3 million in the first six months of 2025. Last year, Americans purchased roughly 16 million cars and light trucks.
Randy Parker, chief executive officer Hyundai Motor Co.’s North America business, said the company is counting on new products coming in the second half to continue its momentum amid a broader slowdown. The South Korean carmaker’s second-quarter US sales rose 10%, with growth slowing to a 3% gain last month.
