by Calculated Risk on 1/04/2017 03:00:00 PM

Based on a preliminary estimate from WardsAuto, light vehicle sales were at a 18.29 million SAAR in December.

That is up about 5% from December 2015, and up 3% from the 17.75 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 December (red, light vehicle sales of 18.29 million SAAR from WardsAuto).

This was above the consensus forecast.

From John Sousanis at WardsAuto December 2016 U.S. LV Sales Thread: U.S. Automakers Set Light-Vehicle Sales Record in 2016

U.S. automakers outpaced analyst expectations in December, ensuring that 2016 was the best year for light-vehicle sales ever. A total of 1.68 million LVs were sold in the final month of the year, edging the full-year tally 0.4% over the prior record, set in 2015.

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 hit a new annual record.

Sales in 2016 were at 17.465 million, up from the previous record of 17.396 million set last year.