With nine months of the year gone, it looks as if 2003 could be another remarkable year for the auto industry. With the economy improving and "robust consumer incentives," the forecast for 2003 sales is being upped from 16.3 million vehicles to 16.6 million by Paul Taylor, the chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

Just passing the 16 million mark will still be quite impressive because it would make the fifth year of sales above 16 million, despite three years of "economic and global uncertainty," Taylor said, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"Five years in a row...that is huge," said Gary Adams, the president of the Greater Cleveland

Automobile Dealers Association.

Between 1992 and 2002, Americans bought an average of 15.5 million vehicles a year, according to NADA. The industry's best year was 2000, with sales of 17.4 million vehicles,

followed by 2001 with 17.1 million, 1999 with 16.9 million and 2002 with 16.8 million.

Taylor said a major contributor to this year's growth continues to be crossover sport utility vehicles, for which sales are up 37 percent, the Plain Dealer reported.