Strong December car deals give shoppers reason to celebrate
(December 21, 2013) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Car buyers are not shying away from the surge of holiday deals, and with two weeks to go this month there's still enough time to capitalize on a deal before the calendar rolls into 2014, says Edmunds.com.
Edmunds.com forecasts shoppers will snatch up 1,425,818 new cars and trucks in the U.S. in December for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 16.1 million. This will be a nearly 15 percent increase from November 2013, but about a five percent increase from December 2012. Edmunds projects that 2013 will see15.66 million total new car sales, which would be a strong eight percent increase over 2012.
"December has become one of the best times of the year to buy a new car, and there's good reason for that," says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "Smarter shoppers will especially zero in on leftover 2013 model year vehicles, which dealers will be more than happy to unload with big discounts and rock-bottom interest rates."
According to Edmunds.com's New Car Deals of the Month page, shoppers can cash in on a $2,250 incentive plus an additional $500 in bonus cash on a 2013 Ford F-150. Or, for the more environmentally conscious, the 2014 Chevy Volt is available to finance at 0.0 percent for 48 months.
SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER
Sales Volume | Dec-13 Forecast | Dec-12 | Nov-13 | Change from Dec 2012* | Change from Nov 2013* |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GM | 247,686 | 245,733 | 212,060 | 0.8% | 16.8% |
Ford | 225,543 | 212,902 | 189,705 | 5.9% | 18.9% |
Toyota | 201,188 | 194,143 | 178,044 | 3.6% | 13.0% |
Chrysler Group | 164,954 | 152,367 | 142,275 | 8.3% | 15.9% |
Honda | 141,385 | 132,774 | 116,507 | 6.5% | 21.4% |
Nissan | 112,326 | 99,290 | 106,528 | 13.1% | 5.4% |
Hyundai/Kia | 104,508 | 98,613 | 101,416 | 6.0% | 3.0% |
VW/Audi | 53,556 | 58,846 | 44,363 | -9.0% | 20.7% |
Industry | 1,425,818 | 1,355,216 | 1,242,290 | 5.2% | 14.8% |
*NOTE: December 2013 had 25 selling days, December 2012 had 26 and November 2013 had 26.
MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER
Market Share | Dec-13 Forecast | Dec-12 | Nov-13 | Change from December 2012 (Percentage pts.) |
Change from November 2013 (Percentage pts.) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GM | 17.4% | 18.1% | 17.1% | -0.8% | 0.3% |
Ford | 15.8% | 15.7% | 15.3% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
Toyota | 14.1% | 14.3% | 14.3% | -0.2% | -0.2% |
Chrysler Group | 11.6% | 11.2% | 11.5% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
Honda | 9.9% | 9.8% | 9.4% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
Nissan | 7.9% | 7.3% | 8.6% | 0.6% | -0.7% |
Hyundai/Kia | 7.3% | 7.3% | 8.2% | 0.1% | -0.8% |
VW/Audi | 3.8% | 4.3% | 3.6% | -0.6% | 0.2% |