U.S. automakers are expected to register a dramatic decline in July vehicle sales compared with a year ago when heavy discounts stoked near-record sales. At the same time, high gas prices are driving many buyers toward more fuel-efficient models, an area where Asian manufacturers still dominate.
New vehicle sales are expected to come in at about 1.54 million units, a 15 percent decrease from July 2005, according to estimates by the vehicle research site Edmunds.com.
Automakers release their July sales results on Tuesday.
Michael Maroone, president and chief operating officer of AutoNation Inc., the nation's largest auto retailer, said July should be stronger than June, when 1.5 million vehicles were sold in the United States.
"I think in June there was a number of customers waiting for the next incentive program," he said.
Summer incentives have paled in comparison to last year, when the domestic automakers offered all customers the chance to buy vehicles at the discounted employee price. With General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group all running the programs, 1.8 million vehicles were sold last July. That made for a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 20.8 million units — the highest since October 2001.
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