Car Sales for April 2014: Forecasts Highest April SAAR Since 2006

CHICAGO--April 25, 2014: Cars.com forecasts total April sales will hit 1,414,120, up 10 percent year-over-year and down 7.8 percent from March. An adjusted SAAR of 16.29 million new-car sales is expected for April, which is an increase of 7.2 percent from this time last year, and decrease of 0.7 percent month-over-month. This would mark the highest April SAAR since 2006.

"The turbo switch finally flipped in April with new-vehicle sales expected to post a healthy 10 percent increase over 2013 after a virtually flat first quarter," said Jesse Toprak, chief analyst of automotive digital marketing company Cars.com. "Car shoppers thawed out after one of the worst winters in history, and showroom traffic was strong once again. Demand for new cars was fueled by low interest rates, very attractive lease specials, and perhaps the best selection of models consumers have ever seen – across all brands."

Retail sales are projected to make up 81.5 percent of total automotive sales this month, up 3.2 percent from April 2013. Honda is expected to finish with the highest month of sales since December 2013, up 3.1 percent from March. Despite recall woes, GM's U.S. market share is projected to increase slightly from March to April.

Automotive sales forecasts for April 2014 for the 'Big Eight' manufacturers: