Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, June 3.
May U.S. sales results began arriving today and they looked pretty good — especially for Ford Motor Co.
Ford generated a solid 16 percent gain in U.S. sales last month behind its employee pricing promotion. Deliveries rose 11 percent at the Ford brand and 39 percent at Lincoln. SUVs and crossovers improved 25 percent while pickups rose 11 percent. F-Series sales rose 15 percent. Genesis, Hyundai, Kia and Toyota also generated strong results in May. For the seven automakers that reported today, combined sales rose 7.7 percent.
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But echoing similar concerns that arose from strong March and April results, how much longer will the pre-tariff sales rush last? Prices on imported vehicles could rise for various brands as some tariff costs get passed to consumers. In fact, Cloud Theory's real-time average marketed U.S. vehicle price popped back over $50,000 today.
May will likely be the last month this year to see industry sales rise, Chris Hopson, an analyst at S&P Global Mobility, said in our story. "Shifting tariff policies have automakers scrambling to produce vehicles while they can," Hopson said, "but uncertainty abounds in the immediate term and sales levels are expected to decelerate further."
We'll know more when second-quarter results emerge July 1.
Speaking of tariffs, our team at Automotive News put together this comprehensive guide to how U.S. tariffs are impacting the global auto industry. Save this link for future reference.
From Europe, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson gave his strongest hint yet that a new model planned for the company's plant in Charleston, S.C., will be the XC60 midsize crossover, Automotive News Europe reported. The plant builds the electric EX90 and electric Polestar 3 large crossovers, but Samuelsson has previously said he wants to add more hybrid models to fill unused capacity.
Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co. will be the official automotive sponsor of Team USA athletes for the Olympic and Paralympic Games — starting with the 2026 Winter Games in Italy — and will be a founding partner of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, Carly Schaffner reported.
That's it for now. If you want to view this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
