by Calculated Risk on 8/04/2020 09:57:00 AM

The BEA released their estimate of July vehicle sales this morning. The BEA estimated light vehicle sales of 14.52 million SAAR in July 2020 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), up 11.1% from the June sales rate, and down 14.4% from July 2019.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for July 2020 (red).

The impact of COVID-19 is significant, and it appears April was the worst month.

Since April, sales have increased, but are still down 14.4% from last year.

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

Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate of 14.52 million SAAR.

Light vehicle sales in 2020, to date, total 7.66 million (NSA), down 21.9% from the same period in 2019 with sales of 9.80 million through July (NSA).