Any way you look at it, August U.S. auto sales disappointed. Compared with “clunker August” a year ago, sales fell 21 percent. Compared with the month before, volume dropped 5 percent. Even seasonally-adjusted, it was the worst month since February.
U.S. sales totaled 997,574 sales in August, down from 1,050,110 in July. A year ago, driven by federal cash incentives of $3,500 to $4,500, August sales hit 1.26 million.
The seasonally adjusted annual selling rate calculated by the Automotive News Data Center was 10.8 million, the first month since January and February to fall below 11.1 million.