by Calculated Risk on 10/01/2010 04:00:00 PM

Based on an estimate from Autodata Corp, light vehicle sales were at a 11.76 million SAAR in Setpember. That is up 25.8% from September 2009 (the dip following cash-for-clunkers), and up 2.8% from the August 2010 sales rate.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales (seasonally adjusted annual rate) from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for August (red, light vehicle sales of 11.76 million SAAR from Autodata Corp).

This is the high for the year - slightly higher than in March.

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

Note: dashed line is current month sales rate. The current sales rate is about at the bottom of the '90/'91 recession - when there were fewer registered drivers and a smaller population.

This was above most forecasts of around 11.6 million SAAR.