The August sales roundup

The Big Three were down 6.8% from August 2004, while the new car market as a whole was off about 2% from a year ago. GM dropped 16%, Ford was up 3% based on strong car sales, and Chrysler was up 1%. Honda jumped 18.5% for its best month ever, Nissan was up 11.7%, and Toyota sold 9.5% more vehicles. Big winners in August include the Prius, up 115%, and the Hummer brand, up 155% (no doubt helped by the introduction of the H3). With the 2005 models pretty much cleared off the lots, next month will start to show whether the 2006 offerings from the Big 3 can start to regain some market share, and of course we'll find out how much impact Katrina has on the market.