Edmunds says that its forecast for US sales numbers for May suggests that while the market has cooled, it is still on track to hit a new record in 2016.
Edmunds forecasts that 1,537,436 new cars and trucks will be sold in the US in May for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 17.5m. The Edmunds projected sales number will be a 2.3% increase from April 2016, but a 5.8% decrease from May 2015. While sales appear to be slowing, Edmunds says that 2016 is still on track to break last year's record of 17.47m light truck sales.
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Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 14.3m vehicles in May, with fleet transactions accounting for 18.5% of total sales. An estimated 3.2m used cars will be sold in May, for a SAAR of 38.5m (compared to 3.4m – or a SAAR of 38.5m – used car sales in April).
"It's easy to look at May's sales and conclude that the retail car market is losing steam, but it's too soon to say for sure that auto sales are leveling off," says Edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell. "As in previous years, the summer months will flush out more incentives from automakers and the urgency that shoppers show in responding to these incentives will give the industry a much better sense of how the market is trending."
LMC Automotive's forecast for light vehicles in the US this year is at 17.8m units, with 14.5m units for retail light vehicle sales.
