Rising consumer confidence in the United States drove Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. to double-digit sales gains in July, with Toyota overtaking Ford Motor Co. to become the second-largest automaker in the market, data released by Autodata Corp. show.
The robust figures, released Friday, seemed to echo recent positive economic news, such as a U.S. Commerce Department report announcing gross domestic product grew an unexpected 4 percent in the April to June quarter.
Dealers sold 1,435,342 vehicles in July, 9.1 percent more than the year before, continuing a five-month streak of such gains. The total translates to 16.48 million units, staying above the 16 million mark for the fifth month in a row, according to Autodata, a U.S. research company.