U.S. Light Vehicle Sales decrease to 16.2 million annual rate in February

Based on a WardsAuto estimate, light vehicle sales were at a 16.16 million SAAR in February. That is up 5.4% from February 2014, and down 2.4% from the 16.55 million annual sales rate last month.  The comparison to February 2014 was easy (sales were impacted by the severe weather last year).

From John Sousanis at Wards Auto: February 2015 U.S. LV Sales Thread: SAAR Falls to 10-Month Low

U.S. automakers sold 1.252 million light vehicles in February, a 5.4% increase in daily sales that left the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) at a 10-month low of just 16.16 million-units.
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Historic cold in parts of the country likely played a role in the shortfall, along with lower than expected fleet sales and some inventory shortages of key models.

GM was the No.1 auto seller in February, accounting for 18.5% of sales, followed by Toyota (14.4%) and Ford (14.1%).

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for February (red, light vehicle sales of 16.16 million SAAR from WardsAuto).

This was below the consensus forecast of 16.7 million SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate).

The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.

Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate.

Although below consensus, this was the tenth consecutive month with a sales rate over 16 million.