U.S. Light Vehicle Sales increase to 17.5 million annual rate in December

Based on a preliminary estimate from AutoData, light vehicle sales were at a 17.47 million SAAR in December.

That is up 5% year-over-year from June 2017, and up 4% from last month.


Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for June (red, light vehicle sales of 17.47 million SAAR  from AutoData).

This was above the consensus forecast for June.

Note that the increase in sales at the end of 2017 was due to buying following the hurricanes.

Sales will probably move sideways or decline in 2018 after setting new sales records in both 2015 and 2016.

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

Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate.