US automakers post big sales gains in June

CHICAGO — US automakers posted big sales gains in June amid strong demand for their more fuel-efficient vehicles, with Chrysler sales jumping 30 percent, Ford up 14 percent and General Motors up 10 percent.Chrysler marked its 15th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains and its best June since 2007 with sales of 130,394 vehicles. That helped boost its results for the first half of the year by 21 percent to 639,932 vehicles.."This business is all about product and consumers are rapidly discovering everything we now have," Reid Bigland, Chrysler's sales chief, said in a statement."Each Chrysler Group brand is contributing to our success and driving our 46 percent retail sales growth."Chrysler, which got back in the black in the first quarter of this year for the first time since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, has completely revamped its product offerings and was one of the only big carmakers to post a sales gain last month.Auto sales have taken a hit from supply shortages caused by Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but production has been ramping up rapidly and automakers said they expect sales to resume their recovery from the deep economic downturn."We believe that the recovery will go back on track," Don Johnson, GM vice president for US sales, said in a conference call."We are not cutting our forecast."GM's sales for the first six months of the year were up 16.8 percent at nearly 1.3 million vehicles after June sales rose to 215,358 units."The month caps a successful first half of 2011 for us in the US market," said Don Johnson, GM vice president for US sales. "Our sales are up and we've gained share profitably."Passenger car sales rose 28 percent in June, led by GM's fuel-sipping Chevy Cruze. Crossover sport utility vehicle sales fell two percent while pickup truck sales were up five percent in June."Strong demand for Ford's fuel-efficient cars and crossovers continues, and we now are seeing truck buyers return to the market with significant appetite for our fuel-efficient

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