In August, A Retreat From Fleet

The big surge in U.S. retail sales last month was possible only because automakers anticipated huge demand from showroom buyers and slashed fleet deliveries virtually across the board.

"We're not leaving any fleet business on the table, and we're fulfilling our orders, but right now the retail business is on fire," said Erich Merkle, Chief Sales Analyst for Ford Motor Co., the industry's fleet volume leader.

The shift to retail is partly seasonal but also reflects the way automakers have adopted a fundamentally different approach to fleet sales since the recession.

U.S. sales in August jumped 17 percent overall to 1.5 million, the highest unit total for any month since mid-2007 and the best August in a decade. But fleet sales dropped 10 percent as retail volume jumped 21 percent among the seven major automakers that dominate U.S. fleet activity.

As a percentage of their sales mix, fleet dropped to just 12 percent of total sales, down from 16 percent a year ago. Similarly in July, fleet averaged 13 percent of the sales mix for the major players, down from 15 percent a year earlier.

To view chart for "Retail vs fleet sales - estimated retail and fleet volume for August 2013 vs. August 2012," click here.

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