July auto sales: Toyota, Honda and Nissan post double-digit gains

Japanese automakers had a big month in the U.S.

Toyota’s U.S sales rose 17.3% in July, to 193,394 vehicles, compared to the same month a year earlier.

Honda said its U.S. sales in July rose 20.9% to 141,439 vehicles. With sales of more than 32,000, the Civic broke its July sales record set 13 years ago.

In his meetings with dealers this week, Nissan’s U.S. sales chief Fred Diaz has found that “traffic in the stores is robust, consumer sentiment is strong and shoppers are in the mood to buy.”

Nissan’s U.S. sales rose 10.9% to 109,041 vehicles last month, setting a July record for the Japanese company.

Mazda said it posted U.S. sales of 24,977 vehicles, representing an increase of 29.4% compared to July of last year.

Subaru reported 35,994 vehicle sales for July, a 43% increase.

Toyota almost supplanted Ford Motor Co. as the second biggest seller of cars in the U.S. last month, trailing the Dearborn, Mich., automaker by just a few hundred cars.

Hurt by a lack of inventory of some of its most popular models, Ford sold 193,715 vehicles in July, an 11.4% increase.

“Once inventory improves for Ford, we’ll start to see improved sales from not only their small vehicles and large trucks, but growth in the midsize and crossover vehicles,” said Alec Gutierrez, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

GM said it sold 234,071 vehicles in July, a 16% gain from the same month a year earlier. Its truck sales were 51% ahead of last July.

The recovering housing and construction industries are fueling a boom in truck sales.

Chrysler Group said Thursday that it sold 140,102 vehicles in July, an 11% gain from the same month a year earlier.

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