Combined market share of non-luxury small cars and small and midsize CUVs increased to 42.1% in March from same-month-2023’s 36.5%. Thanks to that boost, total deliveries in March increased year-over-year despite a decline in sales of all pickups, SUVs, vans, midsize cars and luxury-priced cars. The trend was largely true over the entire first quarter, as deliveries of more affordable vehicles led the three-month period to a 5.1% year-over-year gain.
This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and Wards Auto’s estimate for March (red).
Sales in March (15.49 million SAAR) were down 2.0% from February, and up 3.8% from March 2023.
The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.
Vehicle sales are usually a transmission mechanism for Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy, although far behind housing. This time vehicle sales were more suppressed by supply chain issues and are up year-over-year.
Sales in March were below the consensus forecast.