August U.S. auto sales are expected to show a drop of about 3 percent on Thursday, as the biggest U.S. automakers report declining sales in line with analysts’ expectations.
General Motors Co (GM.N) said August U.S. sales fell 5.2 percent to 256,429 vehicles, and Ford Motor Co (F.N) sold 214,482 vehicles in the month, down 8.4 percent. Both were in line with analysts’ expectations after surprisingly strong July results.
GM expects that 2016 will not be repeat of the record high for U.S. auto sales set last year. On Thursday, it forecast 2016 sales would be 17.3 million vehicles, down from 17.47 million vehicles last year, according to Autodata Corp.
Major U.S. carmakers will issue sales reports throughout the day.
Sales are seen down for August as incentives fell 2.2 percent from July, industry analyst TrueCar Inc (TRUE.O) said.
While GM said this year’s sales will not top results in 2015, it is a moderate slide and they remain sharply above the 2008-2009 recession and the years immediately after.
