Light-Vehicle Sales Jumped in March
Sales of light vehicles totaled 17.7 million at an annual rate in March, well above the 15.8 million pace in February and the fastest pace since October 2017. Unit sales plunged in March and April to 11.4 million and 8.7 million annual rates, respectively (see chart). The pace of sales in April was the lowest on record since this data series began in 1976 and follows a run of 72 months in the 16 to 18 million range from March 2014 through February 2020.
Breaking down sales by origin of assembly, sales of domestic vehicles jumped to 13.5 million units versus 11.9 million in February (see chart), a gain of 13.1 percent, while imports rose to 4.3 million versus 3.8 million in February, a rise of 11.1 percent. The domestic share came in at 76.0 percent in March versus 75.7 in February (see chart).
Breaking down by size of vehicle, March light-truck sales totaled 13.9 million at an annual rate versus a 12.3 million rate in February, a gain of 12.5 percent. Car sales were 3.9 million at an annual rate versus 3.4 million in February, a rise of 13.1 percent.
The light-truck share stood at 78.2 percent for March, completely dominating the car share of 21.8 percent. The dominant share of light-trucks continues a long-term trend. As recently as February 2013, the split between cars and light-trucks (SUVs and pick-up trucks) was about even, with both segments selling about 7.8 million at an annual rate.
Robert Hughes
Robert Hughes joined AIER in 2013 following more than 25 years in economic and financial markets research on Wall Street. Bob was formerly the head of Global Equity Strategy for Brown Brothers Harriman, where he developed equity investment strategy combining top-down macro analysis with bottom-up fundamentals. Prior to BBH, Bob was a Senior Equity Strategist for State Street Global Markets, Senior Economic Strategist with Prudential Equity Group and Senior Economist and Financial Markets Analyst for Citicorp Investment Services. Bob has a MA in economics from Fordham University and a BS in business from Lehigh University.
