November Auto Sales Break Records

A glance over the November sales numbers reveals a month that might best be described as a "win-win" situation.

Despite the modest three percent year-over-year increase at General Motors which fell behind the overall industry sales surge, November was one of the best months the U.S. new car market has seen since the bottom fell out prior to the long-running recession.

On a year-over-year basis, Subaru appears to have been the big winner with a sixty percent sales gain. But there was a long list of makers setting all-time records, including Nissan and its Infiniti luxury brand, Porsche, BMW, Honda, and Audi. The latter maker reported its 23rd consecutive monthly gain with November bringing Audi’s sales for the year-to-date to 124,469, about four percent ahead of the record it set for all of 2011. Chrysler, meanwhile, delivered its 32nd consecutive monthly gain — its Fiat brand jumping 123 percent.

Tens of thousands of buyers were forced to postpone purchases in October because of Superstorm Sandy, according to industry analysts. By various estimates, a minimum 20,000 came back to showrooms in November.

Analysts say they saw little sign that consumers backed off on spending due to concerns that the so-called "fiscal cliff" facing Washington lawmakers might push the U.S. economy back into recession.

Once the final numbers for the month are in, most observers now anticipate the Seasonally Adjusted Annual sales Rate (SAAR) will work out to just over fifteen million, making November the industry’s best month since March of 2008. That was just before the nation began its headlong plunge into recession. On an annualized basis, that would be a roughly 45 percent increase over 2009’s total sales, a four-decades-low 10.6 million – though well behind the nearly 17.5 million vehicles sold in 2005.

For the year as a whole, 2012 looks likely to come in around 14.3 million. But at the current rate of recovery, industry planners are increasingly upbeat for 2013.

NAFA Fleet Management Association
125 Village Blvd., Suite 200
Princeton, NJ 08540

Telephone: 609.720.0882 Fax: 609.452.8004