March Auto Sales Complete Consistently Strong First Quarter of 2016, Says Edmunds.com
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — March 24, 2016 — Car shopping destination Edmunds.com forecasts that 1,655,462 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in March for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 17.2 million. The projected sales will be a 23.5 percent increase from February 2016, and a 7.3 percent increase from March 2015.
"March auto sales show another month of positive year-over-year growth, rounding out a consistently strong first quarter for the industry," said Jessica Caldwell, Director of Industry Analysis. "The sales we saw in these three months sets us up for another potentially record-breaking year, especially as we began to approach the popular summer selling season."
| Sales Volume | March 2016 Forecast |
March 2015 | February 2016 | Change from March 2015 |
Change from February 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford | 256,194 | 234,786 | 216,045 | 9.1% | 18.6% |
| GM | 254,319 | 249,875 | 227,825 | 1.8% | 11.6% |
| Toyota | 240,536 | 225,959 | 187,954 | 6.5% | 28.0% |
| Fiat Chrysler | 223,636 | 197,261 | 182,879 | 13.4% | 22.3% |
| Nissan | 166,021 | 145,085 | 130,911 | 14.4% | 26.8% |
| Honda | 147,390 | 126,293 | 118,986 | 16.7% | 23.9% |
| Hyundai/Kia | 130,647 | 133,790 | 102,746 | -2.3% | 27.2% |
| VW/Audi | 42,724 | 47,127 | 34,039 | -9.3% | 25.5% |
| Industry | 1,655,462 | 1,542,871 | 1,340,544 | 7.3% | 23.5% |
*NOTE: March 2016 had 27 selling days, March 2015 had 25 and February 2016 had 24.
Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 13.4 million vehicles in March, with fleet transactions accounting for 22 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.6 million used cars will be sold in March, for a SAAR of 36.7 million (compared to 3.5 million — or a SAAR of 37.4 million — used car sales in February).
| Market Share | March 2016 Forecast |
March 2015 | February 2016 | Change from March 2015 |
Change from February 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford | 15.5% | 15.2% | 16.1% | 0.3% | -0.6% |
| GM | 15.4% | 16.2% | 17.0% | -0.8% | -1.6% |
| Toyota | 14.5% | 14.6% | 14.0% | -0.1% | 0.5% |
| Fiat Chrysler | 13.5% | 12.8% | 13.6% | 0.7% | -0.1% |
| Nissan | 10.0% | 9.4% | 9.8% | 0.6% | 0.3% |
| Honda | 8.9% | 8.2% | 8.9% | 0.7% | 0.0% |
| Hyundai/Kia | 7.9% | 8.7% | 7.7% | -0.8% | 0.2% |
| VW/Audi | 2.6% | 3.1% | 2.5% | -0.5% | 0.0% |
More insight into recent auto industry trends can be found in Edmunds.com's Industry Center at http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/.
About Edmunds.com
Car shopping destination Edmunds.com serves nearly 20 million visitors each month. With Edmunds.com Price Promise®, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at 10,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Shoppers can browse not only dealer inventory, but also vehicle reviews, shopping tips, photos, videos and feature stories on both Edmunds' wired site and on its acclaimed mobile apps. Regarded as one of the best places to work in Southern California, Edmunds.com was also named one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Automotive" by Fast Company. Edmunds welcomes all car-shopping questions at our Help Center and help@edmunds.com and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Mich., but you can find Edmunds from anywhere on YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Flipboard.
