Automakers will be reporting U.S. August new car sales next week, but an early estimate from Kelley Blue Book (KBB) has sales declining 0.7% year-over-year on an unadjusted basis and increasing slightly when adjusted for one additional sales day last year. The seasonally adjusted annual rate for August is estimated at 16.5 million units, up from 15.9 million in August 2013 and up from 16.4 million last month.

One company though is dodging the downturn and that is Chrysler, which is expected to post a year-over-year sales gain of 11.1% in August. The only other carmaker expected to show an increase is Nissan, where sales are projected to rise 1.2%. Chrysler’s market share is expected to rise by 1.3% to 12.3%, moving the company into fourth place in the market share battle.

Sales at General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) are tabbed to fall 1% year-over-year to 273,000 units, or a market share of 18.3%, down 0.1% from a year ago.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is forecast to sell 221,000 units in August, down 4.6% from last year. Toyota’s market share is expected to drop 0.6% to 14.8% of the U.S. market.

READ ALSO: 9 Cars Most Likely to Be Dumped

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is expected to sell 217,000 units in August, down 1.5% from a year ago. Market share also slipped 0.1% to 14.6% of the U.S. new car market.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) slips to fifth place in market share to 10.3%, after dropping 0.8% of share. It now trails Chrysler. The company is expected to sell 153,000 units, down 8.1% from August 2013.

The largest decrease comes at Volkswagen, where unit sales are forecast to sink 11.6% to 51,000 units. VW’s share dropped 0.4% to 3.4% of the U.S. market.

KBB analyst Alec Gutierrez noted:

Growth is expected to continue to soften, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see automakers increase their incentive spending. Spending was restrained for the first part of the year, and has crawled upward in recent months. Sales also will be boosted by the Labor Day weekend, which is traditionally one of the strongest weekends of the year for vehicle sales.

KBB also points out that compact and mid-size SUVs and crossovers remain the strongest sellers in August. Sales are up 6.2% year-over-year and the category’s market share rose to 13%. The new Jeep Cherokee has been a standout for Chrysler since the vehicle’s introduction. Last month Jeep brand sales were up 41% year-over-year, and year-to-date sales were up 44%, including sales of more than 95,000 Cherokees, a model that was not available a year ago.

READ ALSO: 10 Best-Paying Jobs for High School Graduates

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.