U.S. New Auto Sales For January Should Beat Expectations

U.S. new auto sales should rebound in January after hitting a three-month low in December. According to the Bloomberg consensus, they are expected to reach 12.90m(e) SAAR, up from 12.44m in December.

Specialists Expect An Upward Surprise

Specialists I’m following closely are expecting an upward surprise:

1- According to Cox Automotive, “The January pace of U.S. auto sales, or seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), is forecast to show a sizable month-over-month improvement and finish near 15.3 million, up from 12.4 million in December, which was the slowest pace since May 2020.”

2- J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said “The seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total new-vehicle sales is expected to be 14.1 million units, down 2.6 million units from 2021.”

3- Wards Intelligence expects sales to reach 15.1 million SAAR in January.

4- Lastly, Truecar forecasts “sales to reach 1,006,325 units in January 2022, down 9% from a year ago and down 7% from December 2021, when adjusted for the same number of selling days. This month’s seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total light vehicle industry sales is an estimated 15.3 million, down 9% from January 2021.“