New Car Sales Still on Track to Set a Record in 2016 Despite Small Decline in May, Says Edmunds.com
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — May 25, 2016 — Edmunds.com, the leading car information and shopping network, forecasts that 1,537,436 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in May for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 17.5 million. The projected sales will be a 2.3 percent increase from April 2016, but a 5.8 percent decrease from May 2015. While sales appear to be slowing, Edmunds says that 2016 is still on track to break last year's record of 17.47 million new car sales.
"It's easy to look at May's sales and conclude that the retail car market is losing steam, but it's too soon to say for sure that auto sales are leveling off," says Edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell. "As in previous years, the summer months will flush out more incentives from automakers and the urgency that shoppers show in responding to these incentives will give the industry a much better sense of how the market is trending."
| Sales Volume | May 2016 Forecast |
May 2015 | April 2016 | Change from May 2015 |
Change from April 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM | 254,643 | 293,097 | 259,557 | -13.1% | -1.9% |
| Ford | 242,771 | 250,086 | 229,739 | -2.9% | 5.7% |
| Toyota | 220,006 | 242,579 | 211,125 | -9.3% | 4.2% |
| Fiat Chrysler | 202,198 | 202,227 | 199,631 | 0.0% | 1.3% |
| Honda | 148,918 | 154,593 | 148,829 | -3.7% | 0.1% |
| Nissan | 132,443 | 134,779 | 123,861 | -1.7% | 6.9% |
| Hyundai/Kia | 123,529 | 126,043 | 118,721 | -2.0% | 4.0% |
| VW/Audi | 43,244 | 53,186 | 44,913 | -18.7% | -3.7% |
| Industry | 1,537,436 | 1,631,260 | 1,502,527 | -5.8% | 2.3% |
*NOTE: May 2016 had 24 selling days, May 2015 had 26 and April 2016 had 27.
Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 14.3 million vehicles in May, with fleet transactions accounting for 18.5 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.2 million used cars will be sold in May, for a SAAR of 38.5 million (compared to 3.4 million — or a SAAR of 38.5 million — used car sales in April).
| Market Share | May 2016 Forecast |
May 2015 | April 2016 | Change from May 2015 |
Change from April 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM | 16.6% | 18.0% | 17.3% | -1.4% | -0.7% |
| Ford | 15.8% | 15.3% | 15.3% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Toyota | 14.3% | 14.9% | 14.1% | -0.6% | 0.3% |
| Fiat Chrysler | 13.2% | 12.4% | 13.3% | 0.8% | -0.1% |
| Honda | 9.7% | 9.5% | 9.9% | 0.2% | -0.2% |
| Nissan | 8.6% | 8.3% | 8.2% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Hyundai/Kia | 8.0% | 7.7% | 7.9% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| VW/Audi | 2.8% | 3.3% | 3.0% | -0.4% | -0.2% |
More insight into recent auto industry trends can be found in Edmunds.com's Industry Center at http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/.
About Edmunds.com
Car shopping destination Edmunds.com serves nearly 20 million visitors each month. With Edmunds.com Price Promise®, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at 10,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Shoppers can browse not only dealer inventory, but also vehicle reviews, shopping tips, photos, videos and feature stories on both Edmunds' wired site and on its acclaimed mobile apps. Regarded as one of the best places to work in Southern California, Edmunds.com was also named one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Automotive" by Fast Company. Edmunds welcomes all car-shopping questions at our Help Center and help@edmunds.com and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Mich., but you can find Edmunds from anywhere on YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Flipboard.
