As JD Power/LMC Automotive and Edmunds.com predict a big December and an all-time record for US light vehicle sales in the 2015 calendar year, Dublin-based Experian said more than 17m new US light-vehicle registrations were recorded for the 2015 model year.

Registration volume was the highest since 2006 when 17.4m vehicles were delivered. After hitting that peak, registrations plunged to their lowest point in recent years, 10.2m in 2009 during the 'Great Recession'.

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Registrations don't line up exactly with new vehicle sales; they include registrations of prior-year vehicles, especially early in the model year. Since automakers tally sales to dealers, the sales of previous-year vehicles had been reported earlier.

For comparison, from 1 November 2014 to 31 October 2015, the traditional US model year, manufacturers reported total sales of 17,318,727 cars and light trucks.

JD Power and LMC Automotive forecast total December light vehicle sales of 1,712,200 which would bring the 2015 total to about 17,538,835 units.

Edmunds was slightly more conservative, looking for 1,688,167 deliveries for a 2015 total of 17,514,802. Both forecasts beat the 17,402,486 cars and truck sold in 2000.

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Experian noted that Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda and Nissan were the top five brands, accounting for 54% of new vehicle registrations. California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois were the states with the highest volumes of new vehicle registrations.

Sales for the 2015 calendar year will be released on Tuesday, 5 January, 2016.