January Auto Sales Hit Winter Skids, but Long-Term Outlook Still on Track, Says Edmunds.com

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Jan 28, 2016, 12:31 ET

Car-buying platform 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 over 10,000 dealer franchises across the U.S.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Edmunds.com,the premier destination for car shopping, forecasts that 1,143,839 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in January for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 17.5 million. The projected sales will be a 30.2 percent decrease from December 2015, but only a 0.5 percent decrease from January 2015.

"As expected, Winter Storm Jonas limited car sales from reaching their full potential, especially for import brands, which are traditionally popular in East Coast markets," said Edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell. "But weather factors aside, this was still a pretty good month for car sales. The January sales rate typically falls on the low end of the curve every year, so if historic patterns hold we're off to a healthy start for 2016."

SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Sales Volume	January 2016 Forecast	January 2015	December 2016	Change from January 2015	Change from December 2015
GM	204,068	202,786	290,230	0.6%	-29.7%
Ford	173,184	177,441	237,606	-2.4%	-27.1%
Toyota	163,643	169,194	238,350	-3.3%	-31.3%
Chrysler Group	150,474	145,007	217,527	3.8%	-30.8%
Nissan	105,635	104,107	139,300	1.5%	-24.2%
Honda	104,029	102,134	150,893	1.9%	-31.1%
Hyundai/Kia	78,087	82,804	117,749	-5.7%	-33.7%
VW/Audi	34,824	34,864	51,355	-0.1%	-32.2%
Industry	1,143,839	1,149,037	1,637,950	-0.5%	-30.2%

*NOTE: January 2016 had 24 selling days, January 2015 had 26 and December 2015 had 28.

Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 14.1 million vehicles in January, with fleet transactions accounting for 19.5 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.05 million used cars will be sold in January, for a SAAR of 38.5 million (compared to 2.6 million – or a SAAR of 37.9 million – used car sales in December).

MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Market Share	January 2016 Forecast	January 2015	December 2016	Change from January 2015	Change from December 2015
GM	17.8%	17.6%	17.7%	0.2%	0.1%
Ford	15.1%	15.4%	14.5%	-0.3%	0.6%
Toyota	14.3%	14.7%	14.6%	-0.4%	-0.2%
Chrysler Group	13.2%	12.6%	13.3%	0.5%	-0.1%
Nissan	9.2%	9.1%	8.5%	0.2%	0.7%
Honda	9.1%	8.9%	9.2%	0.2%	-0.1%
Hyundai/Kia	6.8%	7.2%	7.2%	-0.4%	-0.4%
VW/Audi	3.0%	3.0%	3.1%	0.0%	-0.1%

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, Inc.
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 on its free Live Help Line at 1-855-782-4711 and [email protected], via text at ED411 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.