Edmunds.com Forecasts July Auto Sales: Domestic Automakers to Claim Largest Monthly Market Share in Years But Fail to Conquest Import Buyers

SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 28 -- This month's car sales will top 1.72 million units, an 11.1 percent increase over July 2004 (or 15.4 percent when adjusted for the one less selling day this year), according to Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information.

Thanks largely to the employee purchase price promotions, the combined monthly U.S. market share for General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler is estimated to hit 64.3 percent in July, their largest share of new car sales since March 2001.

Edmunds.com predicts that Chrysler will sell 245,000 units in July, up 29 percent compared with July 2004 and up 11 percent compared with June 2005. This would increase Chrysler's market share to 14.2 percent of new car sales in July, up from 12.2 percent in July 2004 and 13.2 percent in June.

Edmunds.com predicts Ford will sell 367,000 units in July, up 41 percent compared with July 2004 and up 38 percent compared with June 2005. This would push Ford's market share to 21.3 percent of new car sales in July, up from 16.8 percent in July 2004 and 15.9 percent in June.

General Motors' employee discount promotion continued to boost the automaker's sales in July, although not as dramatically as it did in June. According to Edmunds.com, GM will sell more than 495,000 units in July, up ten percent compared with July 2004 but down eight percent compared with June 2005. GM's market share is expected to be 28.7 percent of new car sales in July, down from 29.0 percent in July 2004 and 32.1 percent in June.

"Despite the success of the current promotions, the Big Three have largely failed to attract the attention of import drivers," stated Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jesse Toprak. "Overall, the proportion of consumers who traded their import brand for a domestic nameplate has increased only slightly since the promotions began."

In May 2005, before the start of its employee discount promotion, approximately 55 percent of all vehicles that were traded in for new GM models were not GM products. In June, this conquest rate rose to approximately 56 percent and in July it grew to approximately 57 percent.

In June 2005, before the start of Ford's employee discount program, its conquest rate was approximately 43 percent. This increased to approximately 45 percent in July.

Surprisingly, the conquest rate for Chrysler -- which also introduced its employee discount program this month -- fell from approximately 65 percent in June to approximately 63 percent in July.

This month, Honda is predicted to sell 128,000 units, down one percent compared with July 2004 and up one percent compared with June 2005. Its market share is expected to slip from 7.6 percent in June to 7.4 percent in July. Nissan is predicted to sell more than 95,000 units in July, up two percent compared to July 2004 and up two percent compared with June 2005. Nissan's market share is expected to remain at its June level, which was 5.5 percent. Toyota is expected to sell 198,000 units, down less than one percent compared with July 2004 and up one percent compared with June 2005, resulting in a change in market share from 11.6 percent in June to 11.5 percent in July.

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

Edmunds.com is the premier online resource for automotive information. Its comprehensive set of data, tools and services, including Edmunds.com True Market Value(R) pricing, is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions and is licensed to third parties. For example, the company supplies content for the auto sections of NYTimes.com, AOL, About.com and IGN.com, provides weekly data to Automotive News and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts. Edmunds.com also publishes a high-speed, on-screen car magazine called Inside Line available free at www.insideline.com. Edmunds.com was named "best car research" site by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "most useful Web site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM) and was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif. and maintains a satellite office outside Detroit.