November new-vehicle retail sales continue to track at a relatively good selling pace as the month closes. The retail annual selling rate is predicted to come in at 10 million units for the second straight month, according to J.D. Power and Associates, which gathers real-time transaction data from more than 8,900 retail franchisees throughout the United States. If true, and if fleet sales are strong as they have been recently, then the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Selling Rate (SAAR) should come in over 12 million vehicles. Most automakers can expect increased profits in what has been thus far a jobless recovery, as the Great Recession lingers and businesses refuse to hire more workers.
Companies to watch include two of the world’s biggest – General Motors and Toyota. Both have not been able this year to grow at a rate equal to or better than the overall vehicle market. Year-to-date through October 9,571,000 vehicles have been sold in the U.S., a plus 13% gain fr0m 2009. GM is up 4%, Toyota in spite of large incentives and advertising is down 4%.
Meanwhile, Hyundai and Ford, to name just two, have been growing at rates greater than the recovery. An AutoInformed analysis will be forthcoming when the final tallies are in.
“Strength in retail sales has continued past mid-November, revealing a trend toward sustained upward momentum,” said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates. “It appears that consumer concern regarding the pace of the recovery may be easing as the industry exhibits gradual improvement.”
We’ll see.
