July NITRO Sales up 96%!

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The three new Dodge Nitro lifestyle models – Detonator, Heat and Shock – continue to drive Dodge Nitro sales, up 96 percent in July.

LINK: July 2010 U.S. Sales 93,313

[rickaren]

Sales of locally built vehicles on the rise
Tuesday, August 03, 2010


TOLEDO, OH -- July auto sales figures are in and analysts are calling the numbers encouraging.

Here's a look at how the Toledo-built three did last month. Sales for the Jeep Liberty went up 70 percent from July 2009! It's even better for the Jeep Wrangler. Sales rose 121 percent from last year! And the Dodge Nitro sold 96 percent more than July 2009.

But even though auto sales are up, they're still well short of numbers before the recession.

All three American automakers saw encouraging increases in July sales numbers and the local dealers we talked with posted significant gains. But some analysts warn there's still a long road ahead before a complete recovery.

GM sales are up five percent from July of last year. Chrysler sales increased five percent from July 2009 to July 2010. Ford sales went up three percent.

Dennis Virag has been an auto industry analyst for more than thirty years. He says those gains could be short lived because people are still anxious about the economy and job loss.

Virag says that while the numbers are headed in the right direction, he doesn't expect strong sales in the second half of this year and he believes a full recovery is a ways off. "I was thinking the big increases in the industry would be in 2012 but looking at the situation now, I think it will be 2013 before we see any real growth in the industry."

There's been significant growth at Ballas Buick-GMC when comparing July 2010 to July 2009. Marianne Ballas says, "Year-to-date sales are up 48.6 percent over last year. The consumers are coming back and they like what they see and that is translating into numbers for us."

At Kistler Ford sales are also up double digits. President Bob Jorgensen says, "Last year the Cash for Clunkers program was started in July so Ford being up 6 percent year over year is huge. In our region Ford sales are up 23 percent among the dealers and here we're up ten percent over last year."

Some local Chrysler dealers are also reporting big sales increases. At Yark Chrysler/Dodge/ Jeep, for example, they posted a 36 percent year-to-year sales increase.

Some analysts are predicting 11.9 million car sales this year, but Virag expects that number to be closer to 11.5 million.

LINK: Sales of locally built vehicles on the rise | 13abc.com