US Aug auto sales fall by 4.1% year on year

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US sales of new vehicles in August decreased by 4.1% from the same month last year, according to a report on Friday from US-based research firm AutoData.

US Sales of New Autos

August sales of light trucks rose by 2.5% year on year.

However, sales of passenger cars continued to decline, posting a significant drop of nearly 13%.

Among the three major US automakers, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), General Motors and Ford all posted year-on-year losses of 2.4%, 5.2% and 8.8%, respectively.

Nevertheless, year-to-date, total US sales of new light vehicles through August were up by 0.6%.

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The automotive industry is a major global consumer of petrochemicals which contributes more than a third of the raw material costs of an average vehicle. ICIS tracks the movement of petrochemical raw material costs in auto production both globally and regionally with the weighted ICIS Basket of Automotive Petrochemicals (IBAP).

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