U.S. New Vehicle Sales Are Expected to Rise In September Despite Lack Of New Government Stimulus

Analysts expect U.S. new vehicle sales to keep rising in September after increasing by 42.3% MoM in May, 6.9% in June, 11.3% in July and 4.6% in August (according to Wards data).  

  According to most of specialists, U.S. new vehicle sales should rise in September despite the federal government’s CARES Act programs — which provided financial relief to individuals and businesses affected by COVID-19 — for the most part expired at the end of July:

1- Cox Automotive noted “the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) is likely to reach 15.5 million, a modest improvement over August’s 15.2 million, and the fifth consecutive month of sales pace improvement after April’s historic low”  

Our Q3 U.S. auto sales forecast is out. https://t.co/PsDYPmwcf8

— Cox Automotive (@CoxAutomotive) September 28, 2020

 2- Industry consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said “The seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total sales is expected to be 15.7 million units, down 1.6 million units from a year ago.”  

3- Wards Intelligence expects sales to reach 16.2 million SAAR.  

4- However, ALG, Inc., a subsidiary of TrueCar, Inc. projects “ total new vehicle sales will reach 1,221,092 units in September 2020, down 12% from a year ago when adjusted for the same number of selling days. This month’s seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total light vehicle sales is an estimated 14.8 million units.”