This month’s new vehicle sales, including fleet, in the US are expected to be 1.43m units, down 6% from March 2006, according to automotive data firm Edmunds.com.
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This is a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 16.6m units.
April 2006 has 26 selling days, one fewer than last April. Without adjustment, sales are down 4%; adjusting for this difference, sales are down 1% year on year.
“When you adjust for selling days, auto sales are essentially flat compared with this time last year,” said Edmunds.com analyst Jesse Toprak.
“We anticipate May will be more robust.”
The combined monthly U.S. market share for Chrysler, Ford and General Motors (GM) domestic nameplates is estimated to be 55.8% in April, down from 57.7% in April 2005 and down from 56.5% in March 2006.
“Several smaller volume brands enjoyed great success this month,” added Toprak. “We forecast double-digit gains over April 2005 (adjusted) by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, Suzuki and Volkswagen.”
