Top U.S. automakers posted slower sales growth for the second quarter as a cyberattack at software systems provider CDK hit operations at several dealerships during the crucial selling period of late June.
General Motors reported a 0.6 per cent rise in new-vehicle sales, compared with a jump of 19 per cent last year, and said some sales would shift to the current quarter due to the hack.
Toyota Motor North America’s sales rose roughly 9 per cent, much lower than last year’s jump of about 20 per cent.
Market research firm Cox Automotive estimates overall U.S. new-vehicle sales volume in the second quarter likely grew 1 per cent to nearly 4.2 million units. That compares with a year-on-year surge of about 16 per cent in 2023.
CDK said on Tuesday that it was “ahead of the anticipated schedule,” and substantially all dealer connections were live again on the dealer management system.
“The CDK cyber attack has thrown a monkey wrench into sales during the second half of June, affecting what is arguably one of the most lucrative and busiest times of the month and quarter for dealerships,” said Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmunds.
The CDK outage was the latest hiccup for automakers in the United States, as more than 15,000 retail locations were relying on the retail technology provider for their dealer management system.
Hyundai, which flagged an impact to dealers from the CDK outage, posted a nearly 2 per cent rise in second-quarter U.S. sales, compared with a 14 per cent jump last year. Honda reported an about 2 per cent jump in overall sales.
Analysts, however, expect vehicle retailers and automakers to recoup most of the lost sales in July.
“New vehicle affordability concerns remain prevalent and inventories are not expected to advance as strongly as they have done over the past 12 months,” said Chris Hopson, S&P Global Mobility analyst.
Electric-vehicle leader Tesla reported a smaller-than-expected 5 per cent drop in deliveries in the second quarter, after price cuts and incentives helped stimulate demand.