July sees highest new-vehicle sales rate of the year, according to J.D. Power-GlobalData Automotive.
The report shows seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate (SAAR) forecast to rise 1.7% year over year to 16.9 million.
The hybrid market share rises 2.5 percentage points to 15.9%, while EV share falls 3.3 percentage points to 7.0% year over year. Non-EV incentives tracking up 22.2% while EV incentives fall 7.0% to $10,092 per vehicle
Total new-vehicle sales for July 2026, including retail and non-retail transactions, are projected to reach 1,415,800, a 1.4% increase year-over-year, according to a joint forecast from JD Power and GlobalData. The SAAR for total new-vehicle sales is expected to be 16.9 million units, up 0.3 million units from July 2025.
New-vehicle retail sales for July 2026 are projected to reach 1,193,500, a 0.9% increase from July 2025. The SAAR for retail new-vehicle sales is expected to be 13.8 million units, up 0.2 million units from July 2025.
“Demand for new vehicles continues to be strong, with July delivering the highest annualized sales pace so far this year at 16.9 million units, with unit sales projected to rise 1.4% compared to a year ago,” said Thomas King, president of OEM solutions at JD Power. “July’s headline sales results are unquestionably impressive, but evaluating the year-over-year results requires consideration of what happened a year ago.
