Auto analysts: 2016 sales not expected to break record

December 26, 2016 at 5:18p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The year will end just shy of being another record breaker for the auto industry.

Analysts expect total 2016 sales to hit 17.4 million. Last year, 17.5 million vehicles were sold, making it the best year ever for the industry.

“Anytime you get over 17 million sales, it is a strong year,” said Eric Lyman, vice president for industry insights for TrueCar and ALG, a TrueCar company. “It’s going to come down to the wire whether we break last year’s record.”

If analysts’ forecasts are shattered, this will be the seventh-consecutive year of sales growth for the industry.

ALG analysts expect December auto sales to be down 2.6 percent year-over-year to 1.6 million sales. When adjusted for the one fewer selling day, sales could come in at 1 percent higher over last December on a daily selling rate basis.

Kelley Blue Book analysts also expect December auto sales to come in at 1.6 million.

Analysts say the weekend holidays during the month could be part of the reason for the sales setback.

“Weekends are a great car-buying time,” said Jack Nerad, executive marketing analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “They are disrupted by Christmas and New Year’s. That’s part of the issue. The other part of the issue is just a general slowing of sales.”

Analysts expect General Motors will be the automaker with the greatest sales-volume increase in December. Kelley Blue Book analysts forecast GM to see a 3.7 percent year-over-year increase, and ALG expects the automaker will see a 2.3 percent increase.