Vehicle Sales Overcome Hurdles for January Rise Posted by AVCU on 8:42 AM

Total vehicle sales increased to a rate of 16.8 million annualized units in January – up 0.8 percent from last year.  Of note, strong light truck sales beat expectations and offset a decrease in car sales.

"Total unit sales have remained remarkably stable since 2015, but a shift from autos to light trucks over that time has resulted in a large increase in average prices," said NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long in a new Macro Data Flash report.

"The National Automobile Dealers Association projects that this trend will continue in 2020, with light trucks accounting for 75 percent of all light vehicle sales by the end of the year. NAFCU expects vehicle sales to remain stable through 2020 at just below 17 million units," Long added.

Car sales decreased 6.2 percent to 4.2 million annualized units during the month. Meanwhile, sales of light trucks increased from 12.2 million annualized units to 12.6 million annualized units.