Auto Sales Staying Strong in February, Forecasts Edmunds

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 23, 2017 -- Edmunds, the leading car shopping and information platform, forecasts that 1,331,787 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in February for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 17.6 million. This reflects a 17 percent increase in sales from January 2017, but a 1 percent decrease from February 2016. Even though February is historically a slow sales month, it gets a nice bump from the President's Day holiday weekend when auto sales are usually 20 percent higher than an average February weekend.

"The holiday weekend is likely a contributing factor to strong sales in February, but we're also seeing signs that automakers are starting to be a bit more aggressive to move cars off the lot," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds executive director for industry analysis. "Fleet sales were robust in February, and incentives are continuing to rise. While trucks and SUVs don't need as much help to find interested buyers, inventories of passenger cars have been building."

SALES VOLUME FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER
Sales Volume	February 2017 Forecast	February 2016	January 2017	Change from February 2016	Change from January 2017
GM	240,795	227,825	195,909	5.7%	22.9%
Ford	208,627	216,045	171,186	-3.4%	21.9%
Toyota	179,593	187,954	143,048	-4.4%	25.5%
Fiat Chrysler	169,514	187,318	152,218	-9.5%	11.4%
Nissan	129,561	130,911	112,319	-1.0%	15.4%
Honda	117,685	118,986	106,380	-1.1%	10.6%
Hyundai/Kia	96,054	102,746	82,133	-6.5%	16.9%
VW/Audi	38,669	34,039	36,711	13.6%	5.3%
Industry	1,331,787	1,344,983	1,138,241	-1.0%	17.0%
*NOTE: February 2017 had 24 selling days, February 2016 had 24 and January 2016 had 24.

Edmunds estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 13.5 million vehicles in February 2017, with fleet transactions accounting for 23.3 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.4 million used vehicles will be sold in February 2017, for a SAAR of 37.9 million (compared to 3.0 million – or a SAAR of 37.9 million – in January).

MARKET SHARE FORECAST, BY MANUFACTURER
Market Share	February 2017 Forecast	February 2016	January 2017	Change from February 2016	Change from January 2017
GM	18.1%	16.9%	17.2%	1.1%	0.9%
Ford	15.7%	16.1%	15.0%	-0.4%	0.6%
Toyota	13.5%	14.0%	12.6%	-0.5%	0.9%
Fiat Chrysler	12.7%	13.9%	13.4%	-1.2%	-0.6%
Nissan	9.7%	9.7%	9.9%	0.0%	-0.1%
Honda	8.8%	8.8%	9.3%	0.0%	-0.5%
Hyundai/Kia	7.2%	7.6%	7.2%	-0.4%	0.0%
VW/Audi	2.9%	2.5%	3.2%	0.4%	-0.3%

More insight into recent auto industry trends can be found in the Edmunds Industry Center at http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/.

About Edmunds
Edmunds is the leading car information and shopping platform, helping millions of visitors each month find their perfect car. With products like Edmunds Your Price, Your Lease and Used+, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at more than 13,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Edmunds' in-house team of unbiased car shopping experts provide industry-leading vehicle reviews and shopping tips, as well as welcome all car-shopping questions to the free Shopper Advice line at 1-855-782-4711, via email at help@edmunds.com, via text at ED411 and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is regarded as one of America's best workplaces by Fortune and Great Places to Work. Edmunds is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Mich.

Contact:
Nicole Carriere
Edmunds.com Corporate Communications
www.Edmunds.com
Media Hotline: 310-309-4900
pr@edmunds.com

SOURCE Edmunds