SANTA MONICA, Calif. — TrueCar.com predicted in its November sales and incentives forecast that the industry’s seasonally adjusted annual rate for November will be 15.2 million units, matching the rate realized in February 2008.
The vehicle information site’s forecast would push up November’s SAAR from 13.5 million in November 2011 and from 14.3 million in October 2012. The firm also expects new light vehicle sales to reach 1.12 million units, up 12.7 percent from November 2011 and up 2.6 percent from October 2012 (on an unadjusted basis).
TrueCar.com also found that retail sales are up 13.1 percent compared to November 2011, and up 6.3 percent from October 2012. Fleet and rental sales are expected to make up 16.1 percent of total industry sales in November 2012.
The industry average incentive spending per unit will be approximately $2,764 in November, which TrueCar analysts said represents an increase of 4.4 percent from November 2011 and an increase of 19.3 percent from October 2012.
Used-car sales are estimated to be approximately 2.69 million, up 3.8 percent from November 2011 and down 11.7 percent from October 2012. The ratio of new-to-used sales is estimated to be one to three for November.
“November was a strong month for new-car sales and the impact from hurricane Sandy helped to boost auto sales to its highest since February 2008,” said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for TrueCar.com. “Import automakers got the biggest lift due to some increased incentive spending building momentum heading into next year. We don’t expect any major impact on auto sales from the ongoing fiscal cliff discussions.”
Forecasts for the top eight manufacturers for November 2012:
