Domestic Car Sales Rise 3.4% in Mid-July Period

Despite a slight drop by industry leader General Motors, domestic car sales rose 3.4% in mid-July, the auto industry reported Monday.

“Sales were good,” said Dennis Sperduto, an auto analyst with Argus Research in New York. “If it had not been for GM being down slightly, the results would have been impressive.”

But other analysts played down the significance of the 10-day selling period. “Right now there isn’t anything that exciting (in the results),” said Chris Cedergren, a sales analyst with J. D. Power & Associates, a market research firm in Westlake Village, Calif. “The increases and decreases (among the auto makers) are largely due to the timing and the aggressiveness of (their) incentive programs.”

GM’s sales fell 1.9% in mid-July. Its share of the domestic market, excluding imports, fell to 49% from 51.6% in mid-July last year.

Ford and Chrysler, by contrast, flourished during the period. Ford’s sales rose 10.2%, giving it a 31.7% share of the domestic auto market, compared to 29.7% a year ago.

Chrysler, which has improved its sales recently thanks to its aggressive sales incentive programs, reported a sales gain of 10.8%. Its market share rose to 13.7% from 12.8% last year.

“(The sales period) shows that Chrysler and Ford are moving up in market share,” said Thomas O’Grady, an auto analyst with Integrated Automotive Research. He cautioned, however, that price hikes this fall may slow Detroit’s recovery.

Among the foreign firms producing cars in the United States, Honda’s sales rose 3.1%, Toyota reported a 77.5% gain and Nissan’s sales rose 0.6%.

Volkswagen, meanwhile, shut its Pennsylvania assembly plant earlier this month and is no longer producing vehicles in this country.

AUTO SALES Percentage changes in auto sales for the second 10 days of July are based on daily rates rather than total sales volume. There were nine selling days in the current period and eight in the year-ago period.

July % 10-Day 1988 change GM 106,791 -1.9 Ford 69,039 +10.2 Chrysler 29,956 +10.8 Honda U.S. 6,344 +3.1 Nissan U.S. 3,376 +0.6 Toyota U.S. 1,745 +77.5 Mazda U.S. 690 -- TOTAL 217,941 +3.4

*Estimate