by Calculated Risk on 4/24/2024 05:54:00 PM

From WardsAuto: April U.S. Light-Vehicle Sales to Start Second Quarter with Lukewarm Growth (pay content).  Brief excerpt:

The second quarter will be key to 2024’s total results, as demand must continue growing during April-June for the entire year to top 16 million units for the first time in five years. The period could be a leading indicator of how much automakers ultimately are willing to lay off incentives and other forms of discounting, vs. implementing production slowdowns, to keep inventory in check if demand does not pick up significantly.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows actual sales from the BEA (Blue), and Wards forecast for April (Red).

On a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis, the Wards forecast of 15.8 million SAAR, would be up 2% from last month, and up 1% from a year ago.