The BEA released their estimate of light vehicle sales for June this morning. The BEA estimates sales of 15.36 million SAAR in June 2021 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), down 9.8% from the May sales rate, and up 18% from June 2020.
This was well below the consensus estimate of 17.1 million SAAR.
Click on graph for larger image.
This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and the BEA’s estimate for June (red).
The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April 2020 was the worst month.
Since April 2020, sales have increased, and were close to sales in 2019 (the year before the pandemic).
Sales-to-date are down 1.3% 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 15.36 million SAAR.
Sales in June were likely impacted by supply issues.