Steel Markets
March 23, 2015
US Vehicle Sales and NAFTA Vehicle Production Analysis for February 2015
Written by Peter Wright
On a seasonally adjusted annual rate, light vehicle sales weakened in February to 16.2 million units, down from 16.7 million units in January but still up by 5.2 percent from February last year. The probable cause was inclement weather at the end of the month. Analysts had been expecting sales at a 16.7 million annual rate. The decline was most evident for automobiles which declined from 7.5 to 7.2 million. Light truck sales were down from 9.1 to 9.0 million units. Import market share was steady at 21 percent. Moody’s Analytics expects vehicle sales to reach 17 million units in 2015 as a whole, up from 16.4 million units in 2014 as pent-up demand is satisfied, sales will then recede in subsequent years.
Total light vehicle (LV) production in NAFTA in February was at an annual rate of 16,153,560 units, up by 233,928 from January or 1.0 percent. On average since 2004, February’s production has been 7.8 percent higher than January (Figure 1).
