ATLANTA, Feb. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New-vehicle sales in February are forecast to show a modest gain when announced next week, an improvement over last February's supply-constrained market. Sales are expected to increase nearly 4% from last year and last month ? a true volume gain by comparison since there are 24 selling days in each month. However, the February 2023 auto sales pace, or seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), is expected to reach 14.4 million, a decline from January's surprisingly strong 15.7 million level. With elevated auto loan rates and persistent inflation, a sales pace decline from January was expected.
Affordability is a growing headwind for vehicle buyers but is impacting new and used sales differently as the spring season approaches. According to Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive: "We have diverging markets today. New-vehicle prices remain high while used retail prices are now in decline. New inventory is slowly stabilizing while used supply is falling. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see this situation change later in the spring. With many affordability-seeking vehicle buyers leaving the new market for the used, dealers may find they have too little used inventory, and price declines may reverse. And, OEMs may find they have too much new-vehicle inventory and be forced to be more aggressive with incentives to boost sales."
February 2023 Sales Forecast Highlights
February 2023 Sales Forecast
Sales Forecast1 | Market Share | ||||||||
Segment | Feb-23 | Feb-22 | Jan-23 | YOY% | MOM% | Feb-23 | Jan-23 | MOM | |
Mid-Size Car | 65,000 | 60,935 | 63,695 | 6.7 % | 2.0 % | 5.9 % | 6.0 % | -0.1 % | |
Compact Car | 60,000 | 70,803 | 59,851 | -15.3 % | 0.2 % | 5.4 % | 5.6 % | -0.2 % | |
Compact SUV/Crossover | 155,000 | 162,892 | 148,105 | -4.8 % | 4.7 % | 14.0 % | 13.9 % | 0.1 % | |
Full-Size Pickup Truck | 160,000 | 152,886 | 153,958 | 4.7 % | 3.9 % | 14.5 % | 14.5 % | 0.0 % | |
Mid-Size SUV/Crossover | 190,000 | 193,152 | 180,812 | -1.6 % | 5.1 % | 17.2 % | 17.0 % | 0.2 % | |
Grand Total2 | 1,105,000 | 1,062,812 | 1,063,875 | 4.0 % | 3.9 % |
1 Cox Automotive Industry Insights data
2 Total includes segments not shown
All percentages are based on raw volume, not daily selling rate.
About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive is the world's largest automotive services and technology provider. Fueled by the largest breadth of first-party data fed by 2.3 billion online interactions a year, Cox Automotive tailors leading solutions for car shoppers, automakers, dealers, retailers, lenders and fleet owners. The company has 25,000+ employees on five continents and a family of trusted brands that includes Autotrader®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capitaltm and vAuto®. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with $21 billion in revenue. Visit coxautoinc.com or connect via @CoxAutomotive on Twitter, CoxAutoInc on Facebook or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn.
SOURCE Cox Automotive
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