US Auto Sales Mostly Down In August

Among Detroit's "Big Three," General Motors sales declined by 5 percent compared to August 2015, while Ford sales slid by 8 percent.

Top U.S. automakers largely reported sales declines last month, with at least one company noting that August 2016 included one less weekend than the previous August.

Among Detroit's "Big Three," General Motors sales declined by 5 percent compared to August 2015, while Ford sales slid by 8 percent.

Chevrolet — GM's largest brand — declined by less than 3 percent and its Cadillac luxury brand slightly increased, but GMC and Buick each fell by more than 12 percent.

Lincoln, Ford's luxury brand, saw its sales increased by 7 percent, but those numbers were more than cancelled out by a 9 percent slide among Ford models.

Fiat Chrysler, meanwhile, reported a 3 percent sales increase — the only automaker among the top six in the U.S. market to do so.

Jeep continued a strong year by showing a 12 percent sales increase, while Dodge and Ram trucks also climbed last month. Chrysler and Fiat, however, fell by more than 20 percent.

The three largest overseas automakers — Toyota, Honda and Nissan — reported sales declines of 5 percent, 4 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

Those six companies accounted for more than 75 percent of the U.S. auto market in July, according to numbers from The Wall Street Journal.

Volkswagen, meanwhile, reported a 9 percent sales decrease between last month and August 2015 — the final month before word of the German automaker's diesel emissions scandal broke last year.

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