by Calculated Risk on 5/04/2020 09:32:00 AM

The BEA released their estimate of April vehicle sales this morning. The BEA estimated light vehicle sales of 8.58 million SAAR in April 2020 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), down 24.5% from the revised March sales rate, and down 47.9% from April 2019.

Sales in March were revised down slightly from 11.37 million SAAR to 11.36 million SAAR.

Click on graph for larger image.

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

The impact of COVID-19 is significant, although April may be the worst month for vehicle sales (depending on the course of the virus).

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

Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate of 8.58 million SAAR.

Sales collapsed in the second half of March, and in April were at the lowest level in 50 years - even lower than at the depth of the Great Recession.