January auto sales suggest good times will keep rolling
(January 27, 2013) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Edmunds.com forecasts that 1,045,587 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in January for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 15.3 million light vehicles. The projected sales will be a 22.8 percent decrease from December but a 14.5 percent increase from January 2012.
"January's numbers show that vehicle sales stayed strong, even after the holiday ads faded away and the replacement sales following Hurricane Sandy started to dry up," says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "These results certainly reinforce the exuberance and optimism that filled the air last week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit."
Sales Volume | December 2012 Forecast | December 2011 | November 2012 | Change from December 2011 | Change from November 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GM | 237,799 | 234,351 | 186,505 | 1.5% | 27.5% |
Ford | 212,898 | 209,447 | 177,092 | 1.6% | 20.2% |
Toyota | 201,502 | 178,131 | 161,695 | 13.1% | 24.6% |
Chrysler Group | 148,085 | 138,021 | 122,565 | 7.3% | 20.8% |
Honda | 133,621 | 105,230 | 116,580 | 27.0% | 14.6% |
Nissan | 99,769 | 100,927 | 96,197 | -1.1% | 3.7% |
Industry | 1,361,899 | 1,242,971 | 1,143,207 | 9.6% | 19.1% |
*NOTE: January 2013 had 25 selling days, January 2012 had 24 and December 2012 had 26.
Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 12.4 million vehicles in January, with fleet transactions accounting for 19.0 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.21 million used cars will be sold in January, for a SAAR of 40.2 million (compared to 2.70 million — or a SAAR of 39.5 million — used car sales in December).
In terms of market share, most of the Big Six automakers should expect to be in a better place than they were just a year ago.
The only exception is Nissan, whose January share is expected to drop 0.8 percentage points year over year. But it's not all gloom and doom for Nissan: its share is projected to improve 0.6 points over December. Meanwhile, its fellow Japanese competitors Honda and Toyota are expected to see their shares slide 0.5 and 0.2 percentage points, respectively, this month.
MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER
Sales Volume | Jan-13 Forecast | Jan-12 | Dec-12 | Change from Jan 2012* | Change from Dec 2012* |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GM | 195,262 | 167,962 | 245,733 | 16.3% | -20.5% |
Ford | 164,317 | 136,293 | 212,902 | 20.6% | -22.8% |
Toyota | 147,008 | 124,540 | 194,143 | 18.0% | -24.3% |
Chrysler Group | 121,366 | 101,150 | 152,367 | 20.0% | -20.3% |
Honda | 97,416 | 83,009 | 132,774 | 17.4% | -26.6% |
Nissan | 82,235 | 79,313 | 99,290 | 3.7% | -17.2% |
Industry | 1,045,587 | 912,954 | 1,355,218 | 14.5% | -22.8% |