Last month, new cars were selling in the U.S. at a rate not seen since July 2005.
DETROIT, MI - Last month, new cars were selling in the U.S. at a rate not seen since July 2005.
The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate, or SAAR, of new vehicles sales in May hit 17.8 million, easily eclipsing a rate of 16.5 million in April and of 16.7 million in May 2014.
Analysts say that longer loan terms and still-lower interest rates have played leading roles in the strong sales.
At the same time, buyers continue to have an appetite for trucks, SUVs and crossovers, and that's helped drive up the average selling price of new cars, according to Kelley Blue Book.
In May, the average selling price of new car was $33,363, and increase of $1,343, or about 4 percent, above May 2014.
"With the national average price of gasoline down nearly a dollar per gallon on average from one year ago, truck and SUV demand remains strong, elevating average transaction prices, especially for domestic automakers, in May," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "We also saw incentives spending remain nearly flat in May, which shows the strength of the overall new-car market."
Meanwhile, those trucks and SUVs have been pushing up two of the Detroit Three's sales, with the exception being Ford Motor Co., at least for the moment.
Trucks helped push General Motors to its best sales month since August 2008, while Jeep and Ram (and Chrysler) boosted FCA US to its best May sales in a decade.
Ford's sales dipped slightly, led by a 10 percent drop for the company's best-selling vehicle, the F-Series truck. But Ford said Tuesday that result was on "tight supply, as the second F-150 facility - Kansas City Assembly Plant - ramps up to full line speed this quarter."
Here's how the top automakers fared for U.S. sales on an annual basis in May (foreign automaker sales data comes from AutoData Corp.):
General Motors: Up 3% to 293,097 units
Ford: Down 1% to 250,813 units
FCA US: Up 4% to 202,227
Toyota: Flat at 242,579 units
Honda: Up 1% to 154,593 units
Nissan: Down 1% to 134,779 units
Hyundai: Down 10% to 63,610 units
Kia: Up 4% to 62,433 units
Volkswagen: Up 9% to 53,522 units.
Subaru: Up 12% to 49,561 units
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter