by Calculated Risk on 5/01/2009 03:24:00 PM

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the historical vehicle sales from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for April (light vehicle sales of 9.32 million SAAR from AutoData Corp).

Note: this graph includes a small number of heavy vehicle sales to compare to the BEA.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, total sales were still above the February level, but not much.

A few quotes:

"Industrywide, April felt more like a dust bowl than a spring garden for new car sales."
Jim O'Donnell, president of BMW in North America, May 1, 2009.

"It's kind of like the anchor bouncing a long on the bottom of the lake. It has found bottom and it's tripping along a little bit. I think we have found the bottom in aggregate."
Mark LeNeve, GM vice president for sales and marketing, sales conference call, May 1, 2009.

"The industry appears to have stabilized, as it's been fairly level for the past four months. We know where the bottom is, and as the economy struggles to recover, vehicle sales should follow."
Chrysler President Jim Press, May 1, 2009.