Edmunds.com, the resource for car shopping and automotive information, forecasts that 1,455,911 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in August for an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 15.6 million. The projected sales will be a 10.9 percent increase from July 2013, and a 13.3 percent increase from August 2012.
"Car buyers are continuing their steady march into car dealerships and they'll keep marching right through Labor Day weekend with attractive deals and promotions luring them in," said Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs. "While retail sales are strong in August, automakers are further reducing their dependence on fleet sales. This month's fleet percentage of total sales looks to be the lowest since at least 2007, and the result will be stronger resale values for customers buying new cars and healthier bottom lines for automakers."
Sales volume by manufacturer is as follows:
Aug-13
Aug-12
Jul-13
Change from Aug 2012
Change from Jul 2013
GM
266,868
240,520
234,071
11.0%
14.0%
Toyota
217,915
188,520
193,394
15.6%
12.7%
Ford
215,298
196,749
193,080
9.4%
11.5%
Chrysler Group
161,785
148,472
140,102
9.0%
15.5%
Honda
156,688
131,321
141,439
19.3%
10.8%
Hyundai/Kia
123,185
111,127
115,009
10.9%
7.1%
Nissan
112,849
98,515
109,041
14.5%
3.5%
VW/Audi
54,031
52,538
48,843
2.8%
10.6%
Industry
1,455,911
1,284,633
1,313,013
13.3%
10.9%
Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 13.5 million vehicles in August, with fleet transactions accounting for 13.6 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.02 million used cars will be sold in August, for a SAAR of 36.4 million (compared to 3.17 million – or a SAAR of 35.7 million – used car sales in July).
Edmunds.com projects that General Motors could deliver its highest single-month sales (266,868) since September 2008. GM also stands to gain the biggest piece of market share (+0.5 percentage points) of any major manufacturer from July to August.
Meanwhile, Honda's projected 19.3 percent year-over-year sales increase will be the biggest gain by any major automaker in August.
Following is market share forecast by manufacturer.
Aug-13 Forecast
Aug-12
Jul-13
Change from
August 2012
(Percentage pts.)
Change from
July 2013
(Percentage pts.)
GM
18.3%
18.7%
17.8%
-0.4%
0.5%
Toyota
15.0%
14.7%
14.7%
0.3%
0.2%
Ford
14.8%
15.3%
14.7%
-0.5%
0.1%
Chrysler Group
11.1%
11.6%
10.7%
-0.4%
0.4%
Honda
10.8%
10.2%
10.8%
0.5%
0.0%
Hyundai/Kia
8.5%
8.7%
8.8%
-0.2%
-0.3%
Nissan
7.8%
7.7%
8.3%
0.1%
-0.6%
VW/Audi
3.7%
4.1%
3.7%
-0.4%
0.0%
More insight into recent auto industry trends can be found in Edmunds.com's Industry Center at http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/.
