U.S. car and truck sales cool down in January

U.S. car and truck sales cool down in January: We knew that U.S. car and truck sales slipped 1.8% in January as automakers pulled back on bulk sales to rental, government and business fleets and concentrated on more profitable retail sales to individual consumers.

Fleet sales, particularly those to rental agencies, are skewed toward passenger cars, which are falling out of favor as consumers shift to sport utility vehicles and trucks. Nissan's Rogue SUV continued to be Nissan’s top seller as sales soared 45.5% in January. It’s important to notice that 62.6% of January U.S. sales were of SUVs and trucks, up from 58.2% a year ago. January sales fell 1.8 percent to 1.14 million vehicles, or a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 17.61 million vehicles, down from 17.9 million vehicles a year earlier.

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