Edmunds predicts auto sales to be better than November 2012

(November 22, 2013) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Edmunds.com forecasts that 1,196,663 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in November for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 15.7 million. The projected sales will be a 0.7 percent decrease from October 2013, but a 4.7 percent increase from November 2012.

"Any economic uncertainty that car shoppers might have felt in October seems to be a distant memory by now," says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "Car buyers are already taking advantage of advertised holiday deals, and as we plow deeper into the holiday season, the table is set for 2013 to finish on a very strong note."

Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 13.3 million vehicles in November, with fleet transactions accounting for 15.0 percent of total sales. An estimated 2.66 million used cars will be sold in November, for a SAAR of 36.5 million (compared to 3.04 million — or a SAAR of 35.4 million — used car sales in October).

Edmunds.com projects that Chrysler will enjoy the best year-over-year performance of any major automaker. Its sales are projected to climb 10 percent over November 2012, even though they're expected to fall almost four percent from last month. Conversely, VW/Audi is projected to fall more than any other major automaker this month (-6.6 percent from November 2012), even though it is expected to climb higher than any other automaker month to month (+10.8 percent over October).

SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Sales Volume Nov-13 Forecast Nov-12 Oct-13 Change from Nov 2012* Change from Oct 2013*
GM 200,783 186,505 226,402 7.7% -11.3%
Ford 182,451 177,092 191,267 3.0% -4.6%
Toyota 173,794 161,695 168,976 7.5% 2.9%
Chrysler Group 134,817 122,565 140,083 10.0% -3.8%
Honda 114,687 116,580 114,538 -1.6% 0.1%
Nissan 99,589 96,197 91,018 3.5% 9.4%
Hyundai/Kia 93,493 94,542 93,309 -1.1% 0.2%
VW/Audi 45,571 48,795 41,130 -6.6% 10.8%
Industry 1,196,663 1,143,205 1,204,906 4.7% -0.7%

*NOTE: November 2013 had 26 selling days, November 2012 had 25 and October 2013 had 27.