TYSONS, Va. -- U.S. light-vehicle sales closed out the second quarter with a SAAR of 16.94 million units, a decline of 1.2% compared to Q2 2018.

Three fewer selling days in June resulted in an increased SAAR for the month, but there was a decrease in the total number of units compared to June 2018. June sales of 1.51 million units sold represents a decrease of 1.9%.

Light trucks represented 70.3% of all new light-vehicle sales in the first half of the year, with the hot-selling crossover and pickup segments posting market share gains of 1.5 and 1.0 percentage points respectively.

Competition from nearly new off-lease vehicles, rising new-vehicle costs and higher interest rates dulled sales the first half of 2019.

Interest rates almost certainly will not increase this year, and they even may be cut by 25 basis points before the end of the summer. This will offer some relief to new-vehicle buyers dealing with ballooning monthly payments for new vehicles. Looking at the rest of the year, we expect light-vehicle sales will continue to post declines and will close out the year with sales of 16.8 million units.