Nissan July US Sales Surge On Demand for Altima

Nissan sold 98,341 cars in the U.S. in July, a 16.2 percent gain over the year before when the Yokohama-based carmaker suffered supply chain and inventory disruptions from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand. Japan's big three automakers, Nissan, Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) and Honda Motor Corporation (NYSE: HMC) are all expected to report big sales gains in July as they continue to recover from the natural disasters. North American competition is heating up as the Japanese carmakers complete their reentry into the market.

Sales of Nissan brand cars increased 12.3 percent with 86,722 vehicles sold, while Infiniti brand sales soared 56.8 percent with 11,619 vehicles sold.

The core of Nissan's July growth came from gains in mid-sized car sales. Sales of the redesigned Nissan Altima rose 24.7 percent and accounted for over a quarter of total Nissan sales with 26,602 units sold. Nissan calls the redesigned Altima its "most innovative" ever.

Overall, cars made up over 50 percent of Nissan sales with 53,744 units, up 13.8 percent from the year before.

Sales gains by the Infiniti brand derived from high demand for the G Sedan, sales of which rose 88.8 percent to 6,078. The new massive 7-passenger luxury SUV, the Infiniti JX, also contributed 1,999 units.

Nissan Motor Co. (Tokyo: 7201) shares fell 1.48 percent to 733 yen Wednesday.