U.S. vehicle sales for March at more than 1.5 million will increase 21% compared to February while continuing the SUV sales expansion. The result is projected to be a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.9 million. While this is flat year-over-year when compared to march of 2014, compact SUVs continue to be sought after. However, SUVs are not resulting in incremental sales but rather hurting the sales of cars.
“Compact SUVs have earned record market share in 2015 but the popularity of these vehicles has not generated incremental sales,” says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. “This trend is having an adverse affect on midsize and compact car sales. Those segments’ market shares are at an eight year low so far this year.”
Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 13.5 million vehicles in March, with fleet transactions accounting for 20.4 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.5 million used cars will be sold in March, for a SAAR of 35.5 million (compared to 3.2 million – or a SAAR of 35.7 million – used car sales in February.)
