TrueCar forecasts strong sales for October; up 5.9% compared to 2013

(October 24, 2014) SANTA MONICA, Calif. —TrueCar, Inc. today released its October 2014 sales and incentives forecast, which shows the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (“SAAR”) for October of 16.3 million new vehicle sales. TrueCar’s 2014 full year Sales Forecast remains at 16.4 million vehicles.
   
New light vehicle sales in the U.S. (including fleet) are expected to reach 1,278,800 units for the month, up 5.9% from October 2013. With the same number of selling days, the Daily Selling Rate (DSR) for this October is 5.9% greater than that of October 2013.
      
 Fiat Chrysler, which began trading this month on NASDAQ, is poised to have the largest YOY gain among full-line manufacturers (+21.8%), while Ford may see the largest YOY decline in sales (-5.9%).
   
Subaru, which joins TrueCar’s forecast table this month, may see a 27.6% YOY increase in sales.
   
TrueCar forecasts average incentive spending by automotive manufacturers to be $2,629 per vehicle sold in October 2014, an increase of 2.2% from October 2013 and a decrease of 11.6% from September 2014.
   
Registration mix expected to be 84.8% retail and 15.2% fleet for the month, compared to 85.4% retail, and 14.6% fleet last October.
   
Total used car sales, including franchise and independent dealerships, and private party sales, are estimated to be 3,084,040, up 2.8% compared to last October.

“Fiat Chrysler’s growth, fueled by Jeep and Ram, has set up a dogfight this month, with FCA, Ford and Toyota battling for second place behind GM in total volume,” said John Krafcik, president of TrueCar. “Industry-wide, we’re looking at the strongest October since 2004, with incentive spending at healthy levels, and on-track to finish the year at 16.4 million units."

Forecasts for the top 10 manufacturers for October 2014: