Cox Automotive sales trend analysis
U.S. auto sales on pace for second increase of year, but headwinds loom
Wednesday March 28, 2018
Article Highlights
- Cox has a more conservative estimate of 16.7 million. March 2018 has one more selling day -- and more importantly one additional weekend -- than March 2017.
- Cox and LMC said they still expect total sales this year to fall below 17 million, vs. 17.2 million in 2017.
- Edmunds and Cox are forecasting market-share gains for GM and losses for Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai-Kia.
U.S. new-vehicle sales are on pace to reach the highest March volume since at least 2001, according to three forecasts issued Wednesday, marking a solid start to the closely watched spring selling season.
The forecasts, from LMC Automotive/JD Power, Edmunds and Cox Automotive, project sales to rise about 3 percent this month from March 2017. That would be the industry’s largest year-over-year increase since September and the second gain so far in 2018. In contrast, last year started out with eight consecutive months of declines.