ARLINGTON, Va.—While total vehicle sales rebounded in March following two months of declines, NAFCU Research Assistant Yun Cohen said the market continues to face some obstacles, including higher borrowing costs and tightening access to credit.
"According to J.D. Power, vehicle sales to subprime buyers decreased 9% during the first two months of 2018," Cohen said. "In addition, recently proposed tariffs to steel and aluminum imports could potentially inflate vehicle prices and adversely affect sales."
Total vehicle sales in March increased from February's rate of 17.08 million to 17.48 million annualized units. According to Autodata Corp., monthly sales levels were higher than their year-ago level for the first time since October – up 3.9%.
Car sales decreased from 5.7 million to 5.6 million annualized units during the month. Meanwhile, sales of light trucks rose from 11.4 million to 11.9 million annualized units. "Sales continue to shift from passenger cars to light trucks," Cohen said in a NAFCU Macro Data Flash report. "The latter now represents a record high of 67.9% of the market, while sales of the former are at the lowest level since 2011."
Cohen said five of the six largest automakers reported improvements in their year-over-year sales numbers. General Motors' sales increased 15.7% from last year, followed by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (+13.6%), Honda (+3.8%), Toyota (+3.5%) and Ford (+3.5%). Nissan's sales were down 3.7% from last March.
The U.S. brand share of the total vehicle market was 45.7% in March, up from 44.6% in February. The share of domestically assembled vehicles edged down from 78.3% to 78.2%, Cohen said.