September Expected to Deliver Slower New Car Sales, Says Edmunds.com

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Sep 28, 2016, 03:33 ET

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Edmunds.com, the leading car information and shopping network, forecasts that 1,414,632 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in September for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 17.5 million. This reflects a 6.1 percent decrease from August 2016, and a 1.7 percent decrease from September 2015.

Edmunds.com projects that 13,087,816 new cars and trucks will be sold this year in the U.S. through the end of September, up 0.3 percent from the 13,045,867 sales recorded through the first nine months of 2015's record-breaking year.

"Auto sales are tracking just about even with last year's record-breaking pace, so there's good reason to believe that they've hit a high plateau," says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jeremy Acevedo. "There's still a possibility that the industry can deliver record full-year sales but, at the very least, automakers can feel good that sales are consistently hovering at or around last year's record levels."

SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Sales Volume	September 2016 Forecast	September 2015	August 2016	Change from September 2015	Change from August 2016
GM	249,470	251,310	256,429	-0.7%	-2.7%
Ford	202,406	221,269	213,411	-8.5%	-5.2%
Toyota	197,794	194,399	213,125	1.7%	-7.2%
Fiat Chrysler	187,599	193,019	196,756	-2.8%	-4.7%
Honda	132,977	133,750	149,571	-0.6%	-11.1%
Nissan	118,206	121,782	124,638	-2.9%	-5.2%
Hyundai/Kia	113,990	113,835	126,263	0.1%	-9.7%
VW/Audi	40,671	43,481	48,648	-6.5%	-16.4%
Industry	1,414,632	1,439,016	1,507,313	-1.7%	-6.1%
	*NOTE: September 2016 had 25 selling days, September 2015 had 25 and August 2016 had 26.

Edmunds estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 14.7 million vehicles in September 2016, with fleet transactions accounting for 15.8 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.3 million used cars will be sold in September 2016, for a SAAR of 38.6 million (compared to 3.2 million – or a SAAR of 38.6 million – used car sales in August).

MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER

Market Share	September 2016 Forecast	September 2015	August 2016	Change from September 2015	Change from August 2016
GM	17.6%	17.5%	17.0%	0.2%	0.6%
Ford	14.3%	15.4%	14.2%	-1.1%	0.1%
Toyota	14.0%	13.5%	14.1%	0.5%	-0.2%
Fiat Chrysler	13.3%	13.4%	13.1%	-0.2%	0.2%
Honda	9.4%	9.3%	9.9%	0.1%	-0.5%
Nissan	8.4%	8.5%	8.3%	-0.1%	0.1%
Hyundai/Kia	8.1%	7.9%	8.4%	0.1%	-0.3%
VW/Audi	2.9%	3.0%	3.2%	-0.1%	-0.4%

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 serves millions of 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.