(Reuters) – Sales of new vehicles in the United States are set to gain in June, helped by sustained demand for personal mobility, a study showed on Monday.
“Signs of green shoots within the auto demand environment continue to emerge as June US auto sales are expected to follow-up on the solid volume levels of the preceding two months,” S&P Global Mobility said in its report.
According to the report, new light vehicle sales volume in June are expected to touch 1.38 million units, up 17% year over year.
“There are signs that manufacturers are working to preserve their strong pricing power at the expense of building back inventory levels at an excessive pace,” said Joe Langley, associate director at S&P Global Mobility.
Carmakers have benefited from price hikes over the past few years, though, higher costs of raw material still remain a challenge.
S&P Global Mobility said it expects sales of battery-electric vehicles to reach 7% on June’s sales.
“Mixed signals continue to prevail within the new vehicle demand environment, and we do not expect sales volumes over the next several months to dynamically change from the current trend,” the auto forecaster said.
Sales for the year are projected to reach 15.1 million units, up 9% from a year earlier according to the report.
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
