Many automakers in Canada, U.S. report lower August sales

Auto sales are starting to slow in Canada and the U.S. but are still healthy, industry figures released today show.

In Canada, overall sales fell twoper cent in August, compared to a year earlier. Figures from DesRosiersAutomotive Consultants show that light truck saleswhich include SUVsrose by 2.3 per cent. But a 9.2per cent drop in passenger car sales made for an overall drop.

That said, sales levels are still healthy.

Dennis DesRosiers said that despite softness seen in both July and August 2016 sales, Canada is still on pace to achieve another sales record by the end of the year.

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Ford Motor Co. said its overall sales in August were up nine per cent year-over-year. But its other Big Three competitors, GM Canada and Fiat Chrysler Canada, both reported sales declines.

Ford's Canadian sales gain waspowered by strong truck sales. Its lighttrucksales rose by more than 18 per cent year-over-year in August to 25,315 units. For the year to date, Ford's truck sales are running more than 17 percent ahead of last year.

It wasa different story for the company's car sales, which were down almost 30 per cent in August from the same month last year. Ford said it sold3,672 cars last month.

GM Canada reported lower sales in August. It saiditsChevrolet,Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers delivered 22,547 vehicles in August 2016 versus 24,653 in August 2015.

Fiat Chrysler Canada has reported a 20 per cent drop in sales from a year earlier as it revised more than five years of its monthly sales figures.

Honda Canada says its sales last month were three per cent higher.

U.S. sales hit the brakes

U.S. car and light truck sales fell in August as consumers showed signs of throttling back on the blistering buying pace they've been on for the last fewyears.

General Motors said sales at its U.S. dealers dropped 5.2per cent last month compared to August 2015. Ford recorded a steeper fall-off of 8.4per cent. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan saw sales drops of between four and seven per cent, while Volkswagen sales slid nine per cent.

Fiat Chrysler saw a slight increase of 3.2 per cent.

Sales of light trucks wand SUVswere healthy, as gasoline prices remained low.

Total U.S. auto sales in August are on pace to drop 3.5 to 4.0 per cent.

"We're no longer in a period where we have a lot of pent-up demand coming out of the economic crisis," said Ford economist Bryan Bezold.

But Bezoldnoteseven with the moderate decline, sales are still brisk.

Last year, U.S. consumers bought a record 17.5 million new vehicles the sixth straight year of rising sales.

Analysts say it's not yet clear how automakerswillreactto the prospect of softeningsales.

"The use of incentives and fleet sales as acounter to plateauing retail sales will be the statistics towatch going forward,"said Kelley Blue Bookanalyst KarlBrauer, adding thatautomakerswill likelyfocus more on managing their inventories and trying to take market share from their rivals.