Sales of light vehicles totaled 17.44 million units (SAAR) in September, up 4.3% on the month but down 4.0% on the year. August's sales had been 16.72 million. The September results were the strongest since November 2017, when they were 17.64 million.

Passenger car sales rose 5.3% last month to 5.41 million units; despite this rebound, the longer-term trend in car sales put them down 18.9% from a year ago. Sales of domestically made cars almost exactly reversed their August decline, as they rose 3.8% in September to 3.91 million units, off 19.1% from a year ago. Sales of imported passenger cars rose 8.9% to 1.49 million units, but that is still down 18.8% from September 2017.

Light trucks, which of course include SUVs and widely used pick-up trucks, advanced 3.9% in September to 12.03 million units from 11.58 in August and were up 4.7% from September 2017's 11.49 million units. Sales of domestically made light trucks rose 2.8% to 9.63 million units, although that was up just 2.0% from the year-ago volume. Sales of imported light trucks reversed an August decline as they surged 8.6% in September (16.9% y/y) to 2.40 million, a new record.

Trucks' share of the U.S. vehicle market eased slightly to 69.0% last month from August's record 69.3%; this compared to 63.3% during all of last year and 48.8% during all of 2012.

Imports' share of the U.S. vehicle market rose to 22.4% last month. Imports' share of the passenger car market increased to 27.5%. Imports share of the light truck market went up to 20.0% from 19.1% in August.

U.S. vehicle sales figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. Additional detail by manufacturer is in the INDUSTRY database.