Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Restore The Roar: New Car Sales Should Be Up More Than 14 Percent


August 2013 New Car Sales Expected to Be Up 14.4 Percent According to TrueCar; August 2013 SAAR at 15.75M, Highest August SAAR since 2007



TrueCar.com, company that sources, compiles, and analyzes car-buying information, has released its August 2013 sales and incentives forecast. It shows a 14.4 percent increase in new car sales during the month of August.

  • For August 2013, new light vehicle sales in the U.S. (including fleet) is expected to be 1,464,214 units, up 14.4 percent from August 2012 and up 11.8% percent from July 2013 (on an unadjusted basis).
  • The August 2013 forecast translates into a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate ("SAAR") of 15.75 million new car sales, down less than one percent from July 2013 and up nine percent overAugust 2012.
  • Retail sales are up 10.5 percent compared to August 2012 and up 11.7 percent from July 2013.
  • Fleet and rental sales are expected to make up 15.0 percent of total industry sales in August 2013.
  • The industry average incentive spending per unit will be approximately $2,477 in August 2013, which represents an increase of 0.4 percent from August 2012 and is down 2.6 percent from July 2013. Incentives are at their lowest percentage since January of this year.
  • Used car sales* are estimated to be 3,451,179.  The ratio of new to used is estimated to be 1: 3 for August 2013.
Individual Manufacturer highlights:
  • General Motors is enjoying its highest sales since Sept. 2008
  • Honda's sales are its highest since August 2009
  • Chrysler enjoyed its second highest sales month this year
"New vehicle sales defied their typical strong correlation with Wall Street in August and continued to post a healthy increase despite the lackluster performance in financial markets," said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for TrueCar.com. "Small SUVs became the fastest growing segment this month, with this very functional and affordable vehicle category now making up 15.5% of all sales, up from 13.5% from a year ago."
Forecasts for the top eight manufacturers for August 2013:
Unit Sales
Manufacturer
August 2013 Forecast
% Change vs. July 2013
% Change vs. Aug. 2012
Chrysler
169,269
22.0%
14.5%
Ford
217,173
15.1%
12.6%
GM
265,369
13.4%
10.3%
Honda
156,371
10.6%
19.1%
Hyundai/Kia
121,462
5.6%
9.3%
Nissan
118,247
8.4%
20.0%
Toyota
215,413
11.4%
14.3%
Volkswagen Group
59,710
13.4%
7.5%
Industry
1,464,214
11.8%
14.4%


Market Share
Manufacturer
August 2013 Forecast
Jul-13
Aug-12
Chrysler
11.6%
10.6%
11.5%
Ford
14.8%
14.4%
15.1%
GM
18.1%
17.9%
18.8%
Honda
10.7%
10.8%
10.3%
Hyundai/Kia
8.3%
8.8%
8.7%
Nissan
8.1%
8.3%
7.7%
Toyota
14.7%
14.8%
14.7%
Volkswagen Group
4.1%
4.0%
4.3%


Incentive Spending
Manufacturer
August 2013
Incentives
% Changevs. July 2013
% Changevs. August 2012
Total Spending
Chrysler
$ 2,987
-0.7%
-8.8%
$  505,588,038
Ford
$ 2,949
-1.2%
12.1%
$  640,336,893
GM
$ 3,469
-3.4%
12.1%
$  920,612,117
Honda
$ 1,498
-15.2%
-38.1%
$  234,287,982
Hyundai/Kia
$ 1,584
-2.2%
33.4%
$  192,433,604
Nissan
$ 2,301
-10.1%
-16.7%
$  272,083,915
Toyota
$ 1,863
4.6%
-0.5%
$  401,334,151
Volkswagen Group
$ 2,461
-3.3%
17.4%
$  146,955,118
Industry
$ 2,477
-2.6%
0.4%
$ 3,622,340,527
"Despite the push to sell down older models, incentive spending has declined for its second consecutive month," said Kristen Andersson, analyst at TrueCar.com. "Chrysler hit its lowest level of incentive spending since May 2011 while also seeing double digit sales increases, as their strong product lineup continues to resonate with buyers. Honda has also slashed its incentive spending, which is down almost 40 percent from last year." 
TrueCar.com bases its forecast on actual transaction data. The transaction data based forecast is refined by other current and historical factors that impact vehicle sales, including  sales, inventory, incentives, fuel prices, and macro economic data (major stock market indexes, consumer confidence, new home starts and CPI).  TrueCar.com does not adjust for selling days in year-over-year percentage change calculations.
*Used car sales figures include sales from franchise dealerships, independent dealerships and private party sales




Restore The Roar: Manufacturing Renaissance, a five-part ebook essay series tells the story of the collapse and rise of Michigan manufacturing. For a preview, please click here.

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