Vehicle sales continue to roll in October
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Analysts expect new- vehicle sales to keep rolling this month.
The industry could see sales increase as much as 12 percent during October, which has one more sales day compared with last October.
“We are continuing to see strong momentum with utilities and large pickups,” said Stacey Doyle, senior industry analyst for TrueCar.
TrueCar predicts when sales are reported next week by automakers there will be a total of 1.43 million units sold for an 11.4 percent increase year over year. If that’s the case, this October will be the best October the industry has seen since 2001.
Low interest rates, high demand and sweetened promotions all led to the increase, analysts said.
Kelley Blue Book expects to see a year-over-year increase of 12 percent to a total of 1.43 million units.
“Key economic indicators for auto sales are still strong, including jobless claims at a historic low as the national unemployment rate approaches 5 percent, fuel pricing nearing six-year lows and interest rates that remain near zero,” Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book, said in a statement.
September also was a month of impressive sales. A total of 1.4 million vehicles were sold for a more than 15 percent increase year over year in September, according to KBB.
As they have been for months, larger vehicles were on trend this month. The compact-utility segment is expected to be the top segment for the third month in a row, KBB analysts said.
The compact-car segment, which includes the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze, is expected to be up by 3.5 percent year over year, according to KBB’s predictions.
Analysts at KBB and TrueCar expect all manufacturers to see an increase in sales. The impressive sales month after month led KBB analysts to increase their yearly sales forecast to 17.4 million. TrueCar expects the same amount of sales by year’s end. Revenue from new and used vehicle sales is expected to hit $1.2 trillion.
“We have just been continually surprised,” said Tim Fleming, analyst for KBB. “We expect a strong end of the year.”