The Chrysler group's summer blowout sale has flopped.

In July, the automaker tried to reignite last year's summer sales frenzy by reviving its employee-pricing incentives. Chrysler's daily vehicle sales rate actually fell, even as Ford and General Motors refused to follow suit.

The company's daily selling rate in July was 6,014 units a day, down from 7,152 in June. That left it with 560,210 vehicles on dealership lots, its highest Aug. 1 vehicle inventory this year compared with the past five years.

Chrysler's vehicle inventory did shrink from 647,700 units on July 1. But the lower selling rate meant that as of Aug. 1, Chrysler was stuck with a higher days supply of vehicles - 93 - than it had on July 1, when it launched its Employee Purchase Plus program. Chrysler reduced inventory because its assembly plants had their traditional summer shutdown in July - not because of the summer blowout sale.