Edmunds: Despite rising gas prices, February auto sales strong

(February 22, 2013) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Edmunds.com forecasts that 1,198,538 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in February for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) this month of 15.5 million light vehicles. The projected sales will be a 14.9 percent increase from January 2013, and a 4.3 percent increase from February 2012.

"Car sales are persevering despite economic factors on people's minds like rising gas prices and the implementation of the payroll tax," says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. 'Pent-up demand and widespread access to credit are keeping up car sales momentum."

SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Sales Volume February 2013 Forecast February 2012 January 2013 Change from February 2012* Change from January 2013*
GM 218,986 209,306 194,699 4.6% 12.5%
Ford 206,553 178,644 165,863 15.6% 24.5%
Toyota 167,405 159,423 157,725 5.0% 6.1%
Chrysler Group 143,680 133,521 117,731 7.6% 22.0%
Honda 106,367 110,157 93,626 -3.4% 13.6%
Nissan 102,580 106,731 80,919 -3.9% 26.8%
Industry 1,198,538 1,148,848 1,042,530 4.3% 15.0%

*NOTE: February 2013 had 24 selling days, February 2012 had 25 and January 2013 had 25.

Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 12.4 million vehicles in February, with fleet transactions accounting for 20.3 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.35 million used cars will be sold in February, for a SAAR of 37.2 million (compared to 3.12 million — or a SAAR of 38.7 million — used car sales in January).

MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Market Share February 2013 Forecast February 2012 January 2013 Change from February 2012 Change from January 2013
GM 18.3% 18.2% 18.7% 0.1% -0.4%
Ford 17.2% 15.5% 15.9% 1.7% 1.3%
Toyota 14.0% 13.9% 15.1% 0.1% -1.2%
Chrysler Group 12.0% 11.6% 11.3% 0.4% 0.7%
Honda 8.9% 9.6% 9.0% -0.7% -0.1%
Nissan 8.6% 9.3% 7.8% -0.7% 0.8%