April SAAR to hit 16.2 million vehicles, according to TrueCar

(April 25, 2014) SANTA MONICA, Calif.—  TrueCar, the negotiation-free car-buying platform, today released its April 2014 sales and incentives forecast.

“Automakers were determined to make sure March sales momentum continued in April, putting sales back on track for 2014,” said Larry Dominique, president of ALG and executive vice president of TrueCar.  “This month, the Asian manufacturers turned up the incentive dial, while the domestic manufacturers remained more restrained.”


The forecast shows the following:

    • New light vehicle sales in the U.S. (including fleet) are expected to reach 1,382,000 units, up 7.5 percent from April 2013 and down 10.0 percent from March 2014.

    • Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (“SAAR”) of 16.2 million new vehicle sales is up 9.2 percent from April 2013 and down 0.5 percent over March 2014.

    • hare of retail sales is expected to be up 2.2 percent compared to April 2013 and up 2.8 percent from March 2014.

    • Fleet and rental sales are expected to make up 16.9 percent of total industry sales in April 2014.

    • The industry average incentive spending per unit will be approximately $2,751 in April 2014, an increase of 8.9 percent from April 2013 and an increase of 1.0 percent from March 2014.

    • Used car sales are estimated to be 3,404,000. The ratio of new to used is estimated to be 1:2.5 for April 2014.

Unit Sales

Manufacturer April
2014 Forecast
% Change vs. April 2013 % Change vs. March 2014
Chrysler 180,000 14.9% -7.2%
Ford 211,000 -0.5% -13.3%
GM 253,000 6.5% -1.2%
Honda 141,000 7.6% 5.8%
Hyundai/Kia 113,000 1.9% -7.2%
Nissan 100,000 13.8% -32.9%
Toyota 200,000 13.5% -7.1%
Volkswagen Group 48,000 -5.6% -12.4%
Industry 1,382,000 7.5% -10.0%

Market Share

Manufacturer April
2014 Forecast
Apr-13 Mar-14
Chrysler 13.0% 12.2% 12.6%
Ford 15.3% 16.5% 15.9%
GM 18.3% 18.5% 16.7%
Honda 10.2% 10.2% 8.7%
Hyundai/Kia 8.2% 8.6% 7.9%
Nissan 7.2% 6.8% 9.7%
Toyota 14.5% 13.7% 14.0%
Volkswagen Group 3.5% 4.0% 3.6%

Incentive Spending

Manufacturer Apr. 2014 Incentives % Change vs.
Apr. 2013
% Change vs.
Mar. 2014
Total Spending
Chrysler $3,260 -1.6% 1.5% $     586,819,366
Ford $3,212 9.9% -3.9% $     677,708,554
GM $3,562 -2.0% 4.7% $     901,216,371
Honda $2,120 32.2% 0.4% $     298,936,498
Hyundai/Kia $2,087 51.0% -0.3% $     235,882,371
Nissan $2,763 27.6% 2.2% $     276,292,736
Toyota $1,713 9.0% -2.7% $     342,694,715
Volkswagen Group $2,778 17.5% -0.5% $     133,353,621
Industry $2,751 8.9% 1.0% $ 3,796,375,806