by Calculated Risk on 3/01/2016 03:06:00 PM

Based on an estimate from WardsAuto, light vehicle sales were at a 17.43 million SAAR in February.

That is up about 7% from February 2015, and mostly unchanged from the 17.45 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 February (red, light vehicle sales of 17.43 million SAAR from WardsAuto).

This was below the consensus forecast of 17.6 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.

Although slightly below expectations, sales are off to a solid start in 2016.