PSA Autos: November US Auto Sales – Mixed Performance of the Japanese

November US Auto Sales – Mixed Performance of the Japanese

November US auto sales rose 0.9% YoY to 1.39mil units (this sales results could change slightly, as Nissan only produced a sales estimate, due to a system error), as passenger cars continued to decline (-8.2% YoY) and light truck sales increased (+6.6% YoY). SAAR reached 17.48mil vehicles after two months of topping the 18mil-level following the hurricanes in the summer. Positive sales growth was achieved on the back of rising incentives and, we believe, replacement demand following the destruction of an estimated 800,000 vehicles during the hurricane season. Therefore, it is unlikely that the recently improved performance is the beginning of a new trend; it should rather be seen as a short-lived recovery, likely to be followed by a further market contraction. With 2017 total industry volume (TIV) likely to reach about 17.26mil units (-1.6% YoY), sales could drop below 17mil units in 2018. The North American Dealer Association predicts 2018 TIV of 16.7mil units, which would be a 3.3% decline.

In this report, we comment on the performance of the Japanese OEMs and provide a table showing the performance for all automakers and a chart of SAAR trends.