An estimated 1,354,503 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in February for a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate, aka SAAR, of 17.7 million, according to a new forecast. The projected February auto sales sales – if accurate – would be a gigantic 18.3% increase from January 2016, and a 7.9 % increase from February 2015. The 17.7 million SAAR would mark the highest in the month of February since 2000. Ford Motor appears to be the biggest gainer here with projected sales of more than 210,000, an increase of ~17% year-over-year.
The so-called retail SAAR would come in at 13.8 million vehicles in February, with fleet transactions accounting for 21.9% of total sales. An estimated 3.5 million used cars will be sold in February, for a SAAR of 37.9 million compared to 3.1 million – or a SAAR of 38.7 million – used car sales in January.
“Typically January and February are relatively slow months in terms of car sales; if that’s true for 2016, and we only go up from here, we are looking at a remarkable year,” said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell.
