Vehicle sales hit an annualized rate of 16.98 million units in June, reports Wards Auto's John Sousanis.
Bloomberg is reporting a pace of 16.92 million.
Both numbers were much stronger than analysts' expectations for sales to slip to 16.38 million, down from 16.7 million in May.
"The report signals that consumers are willing to make big-ticket purchases, and should ease fears generated by the sluggish tone of recent consumer spending data," said Barclays' Dean Maki.
General Motors saw its U.S. auto sales rise 1% in June, despite what seemed to be an endless stream of negative headlines regarding product recalls.
Analysts' had been forecasting a 6.3% drop in GM sales.
“June was the third very strong month in a row for GM, with every brand up on a selling-day adjusted basis,” said GM VP Kurt McNeil. “In fact, the first half of the year was our best retail sales performance since 2008, driven by an outstanding second quarter.”
This follows better-than-expected results from the rest of the Detroit 3.
Chysler saw its June U.S. auto sales jump 9.2%, beating expectations for a 5.9% gain. This is the company's 51st straight month of growth.
Ford sales fell 5.8%. However, this wasn't as bad as the 6.3% drop expected.
Throughout the day, the world's big auto makers will be announcing their June sales results.
Here's our tally:
- Chrysler: +9.2% (+5.9% Estimated)
- GM: +1% (-6.3% Est.)
- Ford: -5.8% (-6.6% Est.)
- Toyota: +3.3% (+3.5% Est.)
- Nissan: +5.3% (+3% Est.)
- Honda: -5.8% (-5.8% Est.)
- Hyundai: +4%
- Subaru: +5%
- Mitsubishi: +13.7%
- Mercedes-Benz: +8.2%
- Audi: +23.1%
- Porsche: +11%
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