As a slow job growth rate, failing consumer confidence and a stalling economic recovery perhaps contributed to weaker-than-expected July auto sales, one group of OEMs bucked the trend.

The America International Automobile Dealers Alliance reported that international brands “managed to gain ground during the month.”

In fact, import brand sales grew by 18.9 percent in July, according to AIADA.

Specifically, international brands sold 656,584 units and captured 56.9 percent of the market, up from 53.6 percent in June, officials reported. 

Perhaps fueling some of this growth is the Japanese brands’ full recovery from last year’s natural disasters.

Honda led OEM sales growth with an improvement of 46.4 percent, followed by Toyota with 26.1 percent and Volkswagen with 27.3 percent, officials reported.

And one dealer group’s new vehicle units sales for the month reflected this trend, as well, with international sales spiking almost 30 percent.

AutoNation, who sold 21,650 new vehicles this past month for a 14 percent year-over-year rise, noted that sales for its import segment were up 26 percent versus July 2011.

The company sold 11,510 Imports this past month, officials reported. 

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market right now,” said AIADA president Cody Lusk.

“Customers are looking for real value on big ticket purchases, and many are finding it in international branded dealerships,” he added, explaining consumers may be turning to foreign nameplates.

Furthermore, domestic brand sales fell 1.4 percent year-over-year, which was “due in part to falling fleet sales,” AIADA said.

And two of the big three saw fleet sales fall by double digits; General Motors reported that sales to rental car companies fell 41 percent, and Ford saw overall fleet sales fall 16 percent.

But even though July sales didn’t stand up to industry expectations, Autodata Corp. still estimated the seasonally adjusted annual rate at 14.09 million units for this past month, versus 12.4 million units a year ago.

But some automotive analysts are lowering their forecasts after the past month produced disappointing results.

TrueCar.com has lowered is forecast for the rest of the year.

The company started the year with a predicted SAAR of 14.5 million, lowered it to 14.4 million in June and have lowered it again to 14.3 million as of the end of July.

International Brands Continue To Gain Market Share

And as international brands begin to gain more and more market share in the U.S. as the months go by (up to 56.9 percent from June’s 53.6), one particular segment of automakers stands out.

Asian OEMs sold 541,239 vehicles and took up 46.9 percent of the market, up from 44 percent last month and 42.8 percent a year ago.

Interestingly, year-over-year, Asian brands have experienced a 19.2 percent improvement, AIADA reported.

European automakers also enjoyed double-digit growth year-over year.

“European automakers sold 115,345 units, up from 123,492 units last month and 101,481 last July, and experienced a 13.7 percent year-over-year improvement,” officials shared.

On the other hand, domestic brands were down slightly, finishing the month with sales of 497,098 units and 43.1 percent of the U.S. market.

“They are down 1.4 percent since last July when they held 47.6 percent of the U.S. market,” officials added.

In fact, one of the Big 3 seems to be losing some of its momentum gained in 2011.

“GM has given back nearly two points of market share in the second quarter, erasing the gains of last year," said Jesse Toprak, vice president of market intelligence for TrueCar.com.

"Days’ supply and incentives spending are up, which are both relatively negative trends. The only silver lining is the increase in average transaction prices, which was a result of  optimized pricing efforts as well consumers’ preference for highly contented vehicles,” he continued.

International Nameplates Hold Half of July’s Top 10 Best Sellers

Up from four in June, AIADA reported that international brands held five of the top 10 selling vehicles this past month.

Though the Ford F-Series Pickup still held the top-selling spot with 49,314 units sold, the Toyota Camry (29,913 sold) moved up one spot to sit at No. 2 behind the popular American-made truck.

The Chevrolet Silverado (28,972 sold) took the third-place spot, and the Honda Accord (28,639 sold) moved up one position into fourth place, with sales up 70.2 percent year-over-year, the company reported.

Another Japanese nameplate swiped the No. 5 spot, with the Nissan Altima (26,602 sold) joining the top 10, with sales up 24.7 percent.

“The Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla/Matrix – both frequent members of the top 10 list – finished the month at numbers six and eight, respectively,” AIADA added.

Van Segment Sees Double-Digit Growth

And which vehicle segments were particularly attractive to consumers this past month?

It seems the van segment caught shoppers’ attention as it saw the biggest improvement this past month, recording a 23.1 percent increase in sales.

And as gas prices began to rise once again, the small car segment trailed in second place, with a 20.1 percent improvement.

But interestingly, although it was up only 2.4 percent, in terms of sales, the SUV/crossover segment led the pack in July; it sold 351,078 units.

In second place, the mid-size car segment sold 282,061 vehicles and was up 15.3 percent over last July.

On the other hand, the large car segment saw the biggest drop-off; with sales of just 754 vehicles, it was down 88 percent since last July, the company reported.

AIADA also provided the following charts to illustrate its July findings: