Combined rental, commercial and government purchases of new vehicles were up 23% year over year in August, and up 18% month over month. The commercial (+10%) and rental (+45%) fleet channels were up in August. Automakers like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors and Nissan all achieved notable gains in fleet sales.

Fleet sales are now up 7% this year compared to the same eight months in 2018. All of the growth in fleet has been from rental and commercial fleet channels. With 2.01 million vehicles sold into fleet through August, the industry remains on pace to set a record for the highest volume of new fleet sales in U.S. history.

It is important to note that the benefit of an extra selling day in August this year plus the inclusion of Labor Day weekend to the monthly results might have led to a higher-than-expected gain in commercial fleet, boosting the overall performance of fleet sales for the month.