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Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 1, 2021
• Passenger car sales improve as light truck sales surge.
• Domestic & import sales post strong increases.
• Imports' share of vehicle market continues to rise.
U.S. sales of light vehicles strengthened last month as COVID-19 vaccines were more readily available. The Autodata Corporation reported that light vehicle sales during March surged 13.0% to 18.00 million units (SAAR) and were up by more than one-half y/y.
Sales of light trucks jumped 13.3% (66.0% y/y) during March to a record 13.99 million units. Purchases of domestically-made light trucks rose 12.4% (59.9% y/y) to 10.95 million units following February's 4.1% decline. Adding to the rise, sales of imported light trucks increased 16.5% (92.4% y/y) to a record 3.04 million.
Trucks' share of the light vehicle market improved to a record 77.7%.
Auto sales increased 12.0% (35.9% y/y) last month to 4.01 million units, the highest level since February of last year. Purchases of domestically-produced cars rose 13.2% (23.1% y/y) to 2.66 million units after three straight months of decline. Sales of imported autos jumped 10.7% (70.9% y/y) to 1.35 million, the highest level since July 2019.
Imports' share of the U.S. vehicle market increased last month to 24.4%, up from a low of 19.9% during all of 2015. Imports' share of the passenger car market eased to 33.7% in March. Imports' share of the light truck market edged slightly higher to 21.7%, but was down from a high of 23.0% this past November.
U.S. vehicle sales figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. Additional detail by manufacturer is in the INDUSTRY database.
Light Weight Vehicle Sales (SAAR, Million Units) | Mar | Feb | Jan | Mar Y/Y % | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 18.00 | 15.93 | 16.84 | 58.0 | 14.55 | 17.06 | 17.32 |
Autos | 4.01 | 3.58 | 3.88 | 35.9 | 3.54 | 4.82 | 5.40 |
Domestic | 2.66 | 2.35 | 2.65 | 23.1 | 2.53 | 3.53 | 4.05 |
Imported | 1.35 | 1.22 | 1.24 | 70.9 | 1.01 | 1.29 | 1.36 |
Light Trucks | 13.99 | 12.35 | 12.95 | 66.0 | 11.01 | 12.24 | 11.92 |
Domestic | 10.95 | 9.74 | 10.16 | 59.9 | 8.62 | 9.70 | 9.44 |
Imported | 3.04 | 2.61 | 2.79 | 92.4 | 2.39 | 2.54 | 2.48 |