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Friday, April 01, 2016

U.S. Light Vehicle Sales decline to 16.45 million annual rate in March

by Calculated Risk on 4/01/2016 03:31:00 PM

Based on an estimate from WardsAuto, light vehicle sales were at a 16.45 million SAAR in March.

That is down about 4% from March 2015, and down about 6% from the 17.43 million annual sales rate last month.

Vehicle Sales
Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for March (red, light vehicle sales of 16.45 million SAAR from WardsAuto).

This was well below the consensus forecast of 17.6 million SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate).

The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.

Vehicle SalesNote: dashed line is current estimated sales rate.

This was below expectations, however sales for 2016 - through the first three months - are still up about 3% from the comparable period last year.