August Vehicles Sales Decreased to 13.06 Million SAAR

The BEA released their estimate of light vehicle sales for August this morning. The BEA estimates sales of 13.06 million SAAR in August 2021 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), down 10.7% from the July sales rate, and down 14.4% from August 2020. 

This was well below the consensus estimate of 15.0 million SAAR.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and the BEA's estimate for August (red).

The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April 2020 was the worst month.

After April 2020, sales increased, and were close to sales in 2019 (the year before the pandemic).  

However, sales have decreased recently due to supply issues.

Sales-to-date are down 7.1% compared to the same period in 2019, and up 18.9% compared to the same period in 2020.

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

Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate of 13.06 million SAAR.