February’s US new light vehicle sales (including fleet sales) are forecast by Edmunds to be 685,000 units, a 41.4% percent decrease from February 2008 but a 4.6% increase from January 2009.
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The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) for the month is expected to be 9.3m, down from 9.6m in January 2009.
“The SAAR stabilized during the last four months, but now we anticipate another decline in February,” observed Jesse Toprak, Executive Director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. “The fluctuation in car sales and the instability of the stock market are just two examples of the volatility in the marketplace, which is wrecking havoc on consumer confidence and hampering any economic recovery.”
The combined monthly U.S. market share for Chrysler, Ford and General Motors (GM) domestic nameplates is estimated to be 44.2% in February 2009, down from 52.2% in February 2008 but up from 43.0% in January 2009.
“Of the Big Six, Toyota is the only automaker that we expect will report a month-over-month decline when announcing February sales,” commented Michelle Krebs, Senior Editor of Edmunds’ AutoObserver.com.
“The plight of the auto industry cannot be blamed solely on the mistakes of Detroit automakers, but rather is caused by lagging demand for new vehicles across the board.”
