Honda says its June U.S. sales rose just over 1 percent, bucking expectations that industry sales will drop for the month.
Industry analysts expect U.S. auto sales to fall from 2 percent to 4 percent in June, the sixth straight month of sales declines.
Analysts also expect sales to fall for the first half of the year – the first time that’s happened since 2009.
Nearly all automakers report June sales on Monday.
Honda was led by its Acura luxury brand, which posted nearly a 24 percent increase in sales. Honda brand sales fell just over 1 percent compared with June of year.
The Acura RDX big SUV led the way with almost a 50 percent sales increase. But sales of the Civic, Honda’s top-selling car, fell almost 3 percent.