(July 20, 2011) SANTA MONICA (PRNewswire) — Light vehicles sales during the first half of 2011 totaled 6.32 million cars sold, up 12.7 percent from the first half of 2010. TrueCar.com had estimated that light vehicle sales for 2011 would equal 12.8 million units.

TrueCar.com also found several trends during the first half of 2011 vs. first half of 2010.

"The first half of the year was promising until the earthquake in Japan impacted sales of new cars to the Japanese automakers as supply was constrained," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Analysis at TrueCar.com.

    • Most automakers saw double-digit growth compared to the first half of last year. Only Honda (2.3 percent), Mazda (5.8 percent), Subaru (4.8 percent) and Toyota (-4.0 percent) saw either limited growth or a decline in sales from last year.
     • Domestic automakers saw significant growth from the first half of 2010 with the Chrysler Group leading the charge with an increase of 20.4 percent. General Motors increased sales by 17.4 percent while Ford had an increase of 12.2 percent.
    • Hyundai and Kia continued their phenomenal growth with sales increases of 26.2 percent (Hyundai) and 44.1 percent (Kia) respectively.

"With supply problems during the first half, automakers were able to tighten the amount of incentives they put on the hood of vehicles, leading to stronger profit margins for the manufacturers," continued Toprak.

    • The industry average for incentives for the first half of 2011 was $2,432, down 9.4% percent from $2,684 in the first half of 2010.
    • Of the major manufacturers, every automaker but Honda decreased their incentive spend compared to the first half of 2010. Honda's incentives increased from $1,979 to $1,996 per unit sold in the first half of 2011, or up 0.9 percent.
    • Kia (down 40.9 percent), Nissan (23.5 percent) and Hyundai (32.1 percent) saw the largest decline in incentives of the major automakers but the domestics also helped their bottom line with the Chrysler group down 16.1 percent while Ford was down 13.8 percent and GM down 4.9 percent.

"Transaction prices rose to the highest ever during a six-month period as incentives decreased and a lack of inventory in specific vehicles due to the Japanese earthquake," continued Toprak.

• The industry average for average transaction price for the first half of 2011 was $29,482, up 0.7 percent from $29,289 in the first half of 2010.

"Large SUV and truck sales were lower than the industry average during the first half of the year as high gas prices impacted what consumers purchased from January through June," continued Toprak.