U.S. light-vehicle sales are still expected to decline for a second consecutive year in 2018, but implacable demand for high-profit SUVs and the extra cash that last year’s income-tax changes put in some customers’ pockets are helping to soften the fall.
Auto sales came in stronger than expected in May, rising 4.7 percent from a year ago to 1.59 million, according to the Automotive News Data Center. It was the third consecutive year-over-year gain for the industry’s seasonally adjusted, annualized selling rate, though the 16.91 million rate for May also was the industry’s lowest SAAR since August.
Analyst forecasts were increasingly optimistic based on how the year has progressed. LMC Automotive last week raised its 2018 outlook to 17.1 million vehicles from 17 million. Cox Automotive said it could make an upward revision to its 16.7 million forecast at the end of the second quarter. Automakers sold 17.2 million new cars and trucks in 2017, which was the third year in a row topping 17 million.
