AutoData says that the seasonally adjusted annual rate – aka SAAR – for August was 17.53 million units compared to 15.94 million units a year ago. This is the highest SAAR since January 2006. Industry-wide 1.586 million vehicles were sold in August. Sales for all brands, un-adjusted for business days, were up 5.5% from August 2013 and 5.1% year-over-year.

With a 48% share, Asian brands held the largest chunk of the U.S. auto market, improving on the 46.9% share of the market they held in July. This made for sales of 760,533 vehicles, up from 673,783 vehicles last month. Sales for Asian brands were up 7% compared to sales in August 2013 and have improved 6.2% for the year-to-date. European brands, whose countries continue to let the U.S. pay for their defense in money and blood, captured 8.5% of the market, down from the 9% share they held in July. However, sales were up as European brands sold 132,547 vehicles compared to128,572 in July. This was a 1.9% increase from last August and the year-to-date. Detroit Three brands- and we are including Italian owned Chrysler Group here – finished August with 43.5% of the market, down from 44.1% in July.

Vehicles made by Toyota, Honda, and Nissan held seven of the month’s top ten selling vehicles. In second place overall after the Ford F-Series, the Honda Accord beat the Toyota Camry as the most popular car in the U.S. Sales of the midsize car were up 32.5% over last August. The Toyota Camry moved to fourth place after another pickup the Chevrolet Silverado. In sixth place behind the Ram pickup, the Toyota RAV4 was up 51.5% over last August. The Toyota Corolla/Matrix took a ninth place finish with sales up 23.2% over last August. In seventh and eighth places, the CR-V and Civic rounded out Honda’s strong position on the month’s top ten list. The Nissan Altima maintained its position in tenth place, with sales up 3.8% from last August, was the Nissan Altima. Not a Detroit Three car in sight here…