Car Sales Ending Year On a High Note

December car sales are expected to show a "strong close to a challenging year of recovery."

The people at J.D. Power and associates predicting that sales will be about fourteen per cent stronger than December of 2009, and show momentum from November.

"Even with the possibility that sales in the third week of December may be affected by the recent winter storms, the strength in sales during the second week is expected to continue through the rest of the month," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates, in a statement issued by the company. "As a result, it appears that 2010 will end on a high note."

Retail sales are leading the way.  Schuster expects the sales at dealerships to be up 19 per cent over last year, with fleet sales dropping slightly year-to-year.

Total sales for December, according to the J.D. Power estimates will come in 936,300 units, which represents a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 10.8 million units. Power believes retail transactions are the most accurate measurement of true underlying consumer demand for new vehicles.

The actual December and full year sales numbers will come out in early January.  But a number of organizations survey dealers.  The J.D. Power press release says they gather real-time transaction data from more than 8,900 retail franchisees throughout the United States.

Schuster telling WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert that he sees momentum as the auto industry heads into a new year. 

"I think there's more upside potential than downside risk at this point."

The official J.D. Power forecast expects the industry to sell 12.8 million vehicles next year.  But, others are talking about 13 million plus.  And, a successful passage of the tax and stimulus compromise could give car sales a boost. 

"That's another are that I think will provide some benefit," said Schuster.  "There's not question that if those pass, I think we're going to be looking at a stronger economy than maybe we were leading into going into 2011.   That certainly is going to benefit the auto industry."