The annual sales rate for the month of May is expected to reach 15.2 billion for the light – vehicle segment, the experts predicted. The SAAR, or the sales rate, for April was 14.9 million, which ended above the standard 15 million marks for five consecutive months. According to LMC forecasting expert Jeff Schuster, April is the time when the auto industry holds its breath collectively; however, the current scenario indicates staying ahead for the 2nd half of the year. While demand in the auto industry continues to gain momentum, the market and economic hurdles tend to be minimized.
Analysts expect the total auto sales volume for the month of May to exceed 1.4 million units. This would be a whopping 9% leap over that of the previous year. However, despite of 9% growth in the unit sales, sales revenues fell drastically in the month of April. On the other hand, forecasters are expecting an increased in retail sales rate of 12.5 million as compared to 11.5 million in the previous year. Another expert analyst forecasted a SAAR of 15.1 to 15.2 million during May, but also mentioned the same can increase or decrease depending on the demands and lucrative deals during the Memorial Day holiday. A holiday boost is most likely to increase the sales by 6% in May for a SAAR of 15 million.
On the other hand, experts are of the view that incentives are decreasing across the industry. As stability becomes the norm, it tends to be a positive drive for the auto makers to optimize the level of production and increase profitability. As the price of new vehicles has increased by 19%, the monthly payment for the buyers has increased only by 3%. This is yet another boost to the consumers to drive auto sales with improved technology, safety and fuel economy at reasonable monthly payments.
