New car retail sales are expected to recover from the rocky summer selling season and show a nice jump from August, plus a sharp rise of 29 percent over September last year, said JD Power and Associates.
September new-vehicle retail sales are expected to close at 769,000 units, which represents a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 9.7 million units—the highest monthly rate in 2 years (with the exception of August 2009 when the cash for clunkers, CARS, program ran).
JD Power said retail sales (versus fleet sales) are the most accurate measure of true underlying consumer demand for new cars.
“The strength in the first half of September is exactly what the industry has been looking for to begin a more measurable recovery through the remainder of the year with continued progress into 2011,” said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at JD Power.
Car production is also now balanced with car demand, it said. Light-vehicle production in the fourth quarter is expected to tally 2.8 million units, an increase of nearly 3 percent from the same period in 2009.
J.D. Power’s 2011 car sales forecast remains at 10.7 million units for retail sales and 13.2 million units for total sales. But it hedges that a volatile economy could result in lower sales next year.
For the full JD Power press release click here.
Source: JD Power & Associates
Photo: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg News
