Sales of U.S. light vehicles through the second week in June have dramatically increased, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

Total new light-vehicle sales in June are projected to register a 17 million-unit seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) --

considerably better than May's 15.6 million SAAR -- based on Power

Information Network (PIN) retail sales data from the first two weeks

of the month. Light-vehicle sales in June 2001 came in at a 17.2

million SAAR.

According to the company, the key to June's sales rebound is largely the result of an

improvement over last month's performance in retail sales. Actual

units sold in June are expected to reach 1.58 million.

"We saw a slight drop in sales last month, which we anticipated

would happen when the automakers started to cut back on incentives,"

said Dr. Robert Schnorbus, chief economist at J.D. Power and

Associates. "We expected sales would improve this month, with General

Motors and others responding to May's slump with a return to more

aggressive inventive programs. Still, we've been pleasantly surprised

by June's strong performance thus far."

J.D. Power and Associates is holding its 2002 calendar-year

forecast at 16.5 million units.

"Through May, sales have averaged a 16.5 million-unit SAAR, right

in line with our forecast," Schnorbus said.

J.D. Power and Associates' says its sales forecasts are derived from a

joint effort between its Global Forecasting Department and Power

Information Network (PIN), a division of J.D. Power and Associates

that gathers new-vehicle retail transaction data from more than 5,300

participating auto franchises in 25 U.S. markets.

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm operating

in business sectors including market research, forecasting,

consulting, training and customer satisfaction.