U.S. Auto Sales to Fall 5.7% in May

Detroit MI, May 20, 2016; The AIADA newsletter reported that the days of lofty year-over-year increases in monthly U.S. auto sales may be reaching an end, industry consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said on Thursday.

Automotive News reports that May U.S. new vehicle sales will slide 5.7 percent from the same month a year earlier, in part because of two fewer selling days this year. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate will slip to 17.4 million vehicles from 17.71 million in May 2015. In April, the seasonally adjusted annualized rate for sales was 17.42 million vehicles as well.

LMC lowered its full-year U.S. sales forecast by 100,000 vehicles to 17.7 million because industry sales are "running just behind expectations," it said in a statement. That would still be 1.3 percent higher than the record of 17.47 million units set last year. In April, LMC said it was cutting its 2016 outlook for retail sales by 200,000 light vehicles, but it kept its overall forecast unchanged, saying an increase in fleet deliveries would make up the difference.

"Vehicle sales growth appears to be flattening out," said Jeff Schuster, head of forecasting for LMC Automotive.