Chevy Cruze new cruises to first place

For the first time in years, a U.S. automaker surpassed the passenger car sales charts.

New Chevrolet Cruze compact was the best-selling car in the United States in June, Show sales data, new cruise past chart-toppers perennial as the Toyota Camry and Honda Civic.

Wave of small car Chevy reflects increasing emphasis on parent General Motors, fuel efficient small cars. But Cruze benefits from a current shortage of key Japanese models including the Civic update 2012.

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GM — like the other domestic automakers — Meanwhile, saw a strong buildup in unsold inventory and other pickup trucks in recent months, a development that could produce problems going forward, especially if fuel prices surge again.

"With demand for continuous and strong consumer vehicles of fuel consumption of GM, June was another solid month for us," said Don Johnson, Vice President of automobile operations for U.S. sales. "The month caps a successful first half of 2011 in the US market for us — our sales are up and we got share profitably."

Chevy Cruze, GM's new model compact introduced last year, was not only the best-selling passenger car in the United States in June, was also the third best seller overall, coming behind the Ford F-Series pickups and Chevrolet Silverado.

Sales amounted to approximately 1,100 more 24.896, Chevy Malibu largest and well before the Toyota Camry. Normally one of the nation's best-selling car, the Camry squeaked in eighth place for June, with a turnover of 21.375, though the saloon car that Toyota still leads year ranks.

Toyota Camrys sold 147.469 in its first six months of 2011, representing a year-on-year decline of 5 percent and reflecting the ongoing production shortfalls plaguing many of the major Japanese automakers. With 122.972 models sold so far this year, the popular Japanese sedan is still ahead of diminutive Cruze.

The Honda Civic, meanwhile, fell out of the Top 10 list in June, where normally it ranks close to the Camry. Top American Honda executive, John Mendel, recently warned that production civic 2012 update won't be back to normal until "some time in the fall."

Japanese producers, working with its suppliers hard-hit by the earthquake and tsunami-11 March, have been pushing to get their assembly lines rolling as quickly as possible and now expect to be up and running more quickly than previous projections.

Consequently, "we believe that June probably marked the nadir" to the Japanese recession, auto analyst Rod Lache said, Deutsche Bank. That could be good news for the industry as a whole, as shortage seems to have played a significant role in the unexpected slowdown in the United States auto sales in May. June's numbers have increased, but delayed his pace from earlier in 2011.

With Japanese production closer to normality, Lache added, "we expect [seasonally adjusted sales rate] to accelerate — perhaps to trend levels."

With more civics and Toyota Camrys and Corollas are now expected to arrive on a lot of dealer, is anyone's guess what the Top 10 list will look like in the coming months. Data from Experian Automotive and other industry sources suggest that the Detroit carmakers have "indefensible" relatively few Japanese buyers willing to wait for the shortage. (Hyundai did a better job of capturing import buyers, analysts say.)

History: Gas prices hit a sweet spot for us carmakers

Nevertheless, the automakers to Detroit "big three" are hoping to continue gaining momentum in small passenger car segments, and there are signs that recent offers of national manufacturers connect with the equivalent of the automotive world of independent voters.

Ford, who continued to lead the sales charts in June with its F-series pickup truck — the nation's best-selling car for more than a quarter of a century — also saw three other land vehicles in Top 10 of the month, including the small crossover Ford Escape, a fifth, the sedan media Fusion ninth in the standings, in sixth place andthe new Focus compact.

The timing of introduction of Cruze, focus and Chrysler new sedan 200 is critical, notes analyst Aaron Bragman automotive consulting firm IHS, since small cars are becoming the fastest growing segment in the US market.

It is that carmakers in a niche of Detroit traditionally have avoided because of the relatively low profitability of products like the Cruze and focus than the truck as the F-Series, and Silverado.

National carmakers have improved the business case for those models with the adoption of global models and strategies of production which "dramatically improve economies of scale," says Derrick Kuzak, Tsar of global product development at Ford.

Also helps to get new work arrangements, low cost, greater productivity in place with the United Auto Workers Union.

In 2006, before the collapse of the industry drove GM and Chrysler in bankruptcies, the Government-controlled labor cost all-in for a typical worker of the big three was about $ 76 per hour. Now it is closer to $ 52, according to industry estimates. And is even lower in some plants, like the Detroit suburban line producing new minicar Sonic Chevy. Here, many workers have always half the pay standard due to a new two-tier wage schedule.

U.S. automakers have not entirely abandoned truck. June sales numbers underscore a demand continues. Nevertheless, sales of trucks are still well short of what they were before gas prices has risen to near-record levels. And this means inventories have risen to levels not seen before to discomfort those failures of 2009.

At the end of June, there was a supply of 122 days of Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierra. The industry generally considers a supply of 60-70 days normal, although GM insists now that it is comfortable with 100-110 days of pickups.

GM Johnson and other officials of Detroit insist they are trying to match production to demand, rather than trying to force the market sop excess production. The concern is that if demand falls further national carmakers could force dole out the kind of budget-busting incentives that he got into trouble before the recession in the industry.

And that could more than wipe out profits, that producers can eke their increasingly popular small cars.

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