by Calculated Risk on 5/04/2021 08:54:00 AM

The BEA released their estimate of light vehicle sales for April this morning. The BEA estimates sales of 18.51 million SAAR in April 2021 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), up 3.1% from the March sales rate, and up more than double from April 2020. 

This was the highest sales rate since 2005.

This was above the consensus estimate.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and the BEA's estimate for April (red).

The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April 2020 was the worst month.

Since April 2020, sales have increased are now up compared to 2019.   

Sales-to-date are up 1.9% compared to the same period in 2019.

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

Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate of 18.51 million SAAR.

Sales in April were positively impacted by the American Rescue Plan Act.