Honda extended a bleak stretch for a car widely regarded as one of the best in U.S. showrooms as American demand for sedans may have reached a record-low share of the auto market.
Deliveries of the Accord dropped 11 percent in August and dragged on Honda's total sales, which missed analysts' average estimate.
The model named the North American Car of the Year in January has been no match for the sport-utility vehicles that U.S. consumers are buying in droves. Sales of the sedan have now dropped for 10 straight months.
Honda has company: Every major automaker is struggling mightily to move sedans during an era of booming demand for SUVs and pickups.
Toyota's Camry sales cratered last month, dropping 19 percent and outweighing a strong showing for Highlander crossovers and Tacoma trucks. Ford Motor Co., which eventually plans to drop every traditional sedan from the North American market, posted plunges of more than 30 percent with the Focus and Fusion, even as the F-Series truck line had its best August in more than a dozen years.
Passenger cars may have plunged to just 29 percent of the market in August, which would be an all-time low, said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst with Autotrader. Five years ago, cars were 49 percent of industrywide deliveries, she said.
"If it continues to slide, then one wonders how low it can go," Krebs said of the sedan market. "We were anticipating passengers cars would make up 30 percent of the market this year, and that may have been optimistic."
The worsening sedan slump is undermining what was a stronger-than-expected start to the year for the U.S. auto market.
