Car Sales Rose in February Despite Higher Gas Prices and Winter Storms
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SANTA MONICA, CA -- Feb. 26, 2015: Edmunds.com forecasts that 1,285,019 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in February for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 16.6 million. The projected sales will be an 11.8 percent increase from January 2015, and a 7.9 percent increase from February 2014.
"Gas prices inched back up this month, but it didn't appear to have much impact on shoppers' choices. We're still seeing a strong market for trucks and SUVs -- especially compact crossover SUVs, which continue to ride an impressive wave of popularity," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "It is likely that the hard-hitting winter weather motivated some buyers to upgrade from their two-wheel drive vehicles."
| SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER | |||||
| Sales Volume | February 2015 | February | January | Change
from | Change from |
| GM | 230,019 | 222,104 | 202,786 | 3.6% |
13.4% |
| Ford | 192,866 | 183,349 | 177,441 | 5.2% |
8.7% |
| Toyota | 184,841 | 159,284 | 169,194 | 16.0% |
9.2% |
| Chrysler Group |
167,613 | 154,866 | 145,007 | 8.2% |
15.6% |
| Nissan | 123,664 | 115,360 | 104,107 | 7.2% |
18.8% |
| Honda | 111,780 | 100,405 | 102,134 | 11.3% |
9.4% |
| Hyundai/Kia | 97,507 | 90,221 | 82,804 | 8.1% |
17.8% |
| VW/Audi | 37,155 | 37,993 | 34,864 | -2.2% |
6.6% |
| Industry |
1,285,019 | 1,191,083 | 1,149,037 | 7.9% | 11.8% |
| *NOTE: February 2015 had 24 selling days, February 2014 had 24 and January 2015 had 26. | |||||
Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 13.4 million vehicles in February, with fleet transactions accounting for 19.3 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.2 million used cars will be sold in February, for a SAAR of 35.7 million (compared to 2.95 million – or a SAAR of 36.3 million – used car sales in January).
| MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER | |||||
| Market Share | February | February 2014 | January | Change
from | Change from |
| GM | 17.9% |
18.6% |
17.6% |
-0.7% |
0.3% |
| Ford | 15.0% |
15.4% |
15.4% |
-0.4% |
-0.4% |
| Toyota | 14.4% |
13.4% |
14.7% |
1.0% |
-0.3% |
| Chrysler Group |
13.0% |
13.0% |
12.6% |
0.0% |
0.4% |
| Nissan | 9.6% |
9.7% |
9.1% |
-0.1% |
0.6% |
| Honda | 8.7% |
8.4% |
8.9% |
0.3% |
-0.2% |
| Hyundai/Kia | 7.6% |
7.6% |
7.2% |
0.0% |
0.4% |
| VW/Audi | 2.9% |
3.2% |
3.0% |
-0.3% |
-0.1% |