by Calculated Risk on 5/03/2016 03:40:00 PM

Based on an estimate from AutoData, light vehicle sales were at a 17.42 million SAAR in April.

That is up about 4% from April 2015, and up about 6% from the 16.46 million annual sales rate last month.


Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for April (red, light vehicle sales of 17.42 million SAAR from AutoData).

This was slightly above the consensus forecast of 17.3 million SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate).

The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.

Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate.

Sales for 2016 - through the first four months - are up about 3% from the comparable period last year.