The deteriorating economy, the precarious employment situation and the lack of available credit will push the annual sales rate in December for US car sales to their lowest level of the year below 10m units, Edmunds.com forecasts.

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December sales (retail and fleet) are expected to total 852,000 units, a 38.4% decrease from December 2007 but a 14.6% increase from November, Edmunds.com predicts. Typically, December sales are about 18% higher than November’s, Edmunds says.


With the year closing on a low note, US vehicle sales for all of  2008 will total just over 13m, a decrease of almost 3m vehicles, or 18%, from 2007. Automakers report December and 2008 sales figures January 5, 2009.


“Despite the unit sales increase from November, December’s expected 9.8 million SAAR will be the lowest of the year,” said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of Industry Analysis. “As questions about the economy remain unanswered, many consumers are reluctant to respond to the incredibly generous deals available on new cars.”
 
Edmunds.com analysts predict that for the first time in nine months, trucks will outsell cars. Despite all the public discussion of fuel-efficiency, SUVs and trucks are the industry’s biggest sellers right now as a remarkable number of buyers seem to be compelled by three factors: great deals, low gas prices and winter weather.


Conversely, Toyota has slowed production of the Prius for lack of interest and a growing inventory of the once-popular hybrid.

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See also: Dave’s Blog: The credit problem