Based on a preliminary estimate from WardsAuto, light vehicle sales were at a 17.79 million SAAR in December.
That is down 1.5% from December 2016, and up 2.2% from last month.
This puts annual sales 17.14 million, down from 17.46 million in 2016.
The top five years for auto sales are (2017 is fourth overall).
| Top 5 Year Light Vehicle Sales | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Sales (000s) | |
| 2016 | 17,464.8 | |
| 2015 | 17,396.3 | |
| 2000 | 17,349.7 | |
| 20171 | 17,135.4 | |
| 2001 | 17,122.4 | |
| 1Includes estimate for Dec 2017 | ||
Click on graph for larger image.
This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for December (red, light vehicle sales of 17.79 million SAAR from WardsAuto).
This was above the consensus forecast of 17.5 million for December.
Still – even with the bump in sales following the hurricanes – vehicle sales were down year-over-year in 2017, following two consecutive years of record sales.
The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.
Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate.