February New Car Sales Expected to Be Up 6%
Press release from the issuing company
Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
TrueCar.com, the authority on new car pricing information, trends and forecasting, today released its February 2013 sales and incentives forecast. The forecast shows the following:
- For February 2013, new light vehicle sales in the U.S. (including fleet) is expected to be 1,214,194 units, up 5.7 percent from February 2012 and up 16.5 percent from January 2013 (on an unadjusted basis)
- The February 2013 forecast translates into a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate ("SAAR") of 15.7 million new car sales, up from 14.5 million in February 2012 and up from 15.3 million in January 2013
- Retail sales are up 5.2 percent compared to February 2012 and up 20.6 percent from January 2013
- Fleet and rental sales are expected to make up 21 percent of total industry sales in February 2013
- The industry average incentive spending per unit will be approximately $2,392 in February 2013, which represents a decrease of 3.9 percent from February 2012 and an increase of 1.8 percent from January 2013
- Used car sales* are estimated to be 3,402,345, up from 3.25 million February 2012. The ratio of new to used is estimated to be 1:3 for February 2013
"The unusual strength of the full size truck segment in February helped industry sales to nearly reach the 15.7 million SAAR mark, despite gas prices increasing," said Jesse Toprak , senior analyst for TrueCar.com. "Pent up demand for pick up trucks by small businesses will be a critical factor in this year's continued sales recovery."
Forecasts for the top eight manufacturers for February 2013:
|
Unit Sales |
|||
|
Manufacturer |
February 2013 Forecast |
% Change vs. January 2012 |
% Change vs. February 2012 |
|
Chrysler |
145,665 |
23.7% |
9.1% |
|
Ford |
199,843 |
20.5% |
11.9% |
|
GM |
221,019 |
13.5% |
5.6% |
|
Honda |
112,708 |
20.4% |
2.3% |
|
Hyundai/Kia |
89,578 |
12.0% |
-6.9% |
|
Nissan |
101,748 |
25.7% |
-4.7% |
|
Toyota |
168,917 |
7.1% |
6.0% |
|
Volkswagen |
44,629 |
14.2% |
14.1% |
|
Industry |
1,214,194 |
16.5% |
5.7% |
|
Market Share |
|||
|
Manufacturer |
February 2013 Forecast |
January 2013 |
February 2012 |
|
Chrysler |
12.0% |
11.3% |
11.6% |
|
Ford |
16.5% |
15.9% |
15.6% |
|
GM |
18.2% |
18.7% |
18.2% |
|
Honda |
9.3% |
9.0% |
9.6% |
|
Hyundai/Kia |
7.4% |
7.7% |
8.4% |
|
Nissan |
8.4% |
7.8% |
9.3% |
|
Toyota |
13.9% |
15.1% |
13.9% |
|
Volkswagen |
3.7% |
3.7% |
3.4% |
|
Incentive Spending |
||||
|
Manufacturer |
February 2013 Incentives |
% Change vs. January 2013 |
% Change vs. February 2012 |
Total Spending |
|
Chrysler |
$3,010 |
-0.3% |
-1.3% |
$438,503,123 |
|
Ford |
$2,711 |
3.6% |
-4.3% |
$541,730,520 |
|
GM |
$3,143 |
-0.3% |
0.9% |
$694,566,310 |
|
Honda |
$1,291 |
6.3% |
-39.3% |
$145,529,432 |
|
Hyundai/Kia |
$1,420 |
1.9% |
18.8% |
$127,203,722 |
|
Nissan |
$2,428 |
10.5% |
-24.9% |
$247,013,770 |
|
Toyota |
$1,681 |
-1.6% |
3.8% |
$284,033,376 |
|
Volkswagen |
$2,326 |
-2.4% |
12.0% |
$103,797,746 |
|
Industry |
$2,392 |
1.8% |
-3.9% |
$2,904,112,771 |
"Automakers enjoyed a month of ideal conditions for profitability in February with incentives down nearly four percent and sales up double digits compared to year ago levels," said Kristen Andersson , analyst for TrueCar.com. "We expect incentives spending to track within a narrow range the rest of the year as the supply of vehicles and consumer demand are forecasted to increase at similar levels."
TrueCar.com bases its forecast on actual transaction data. The transaction data based forecast is refined by other current and historical factors that impact vehicle sales, including: sales, inventory, incentives, fuel prices, and macro economic data (major stock market indexes, consumer confidence, new home starts, and CPI). TrueCar.com does not adjust for selling days in year-over-year percentage change calculations.
