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Though the US economy has experienced its strongest growth in a few years, its auto market seems to be going the other way. The total US auto sales in October are expected to decline. Car sales are projected to be doing worse compared to truck sales.
Total US Auto Sales To Fall In October
According to the Forbes, it seems like October is the third month in a row that the US auto sales will fall below the same month a year ago. This is despite the fact that there is a reasonably high level of incentives. Truck sales that include pickups, SUVs, crossover SUVs and minivans are doing well than the car sales.
Based on the previous truck sales last month, it is expected to climb even more. According to the PR Newswire, year to date through September, the Jeep and Ram trucks were the biggest percentage gainers.
The auto research company Kelley Blue Book (KBB) revealed that the expected total US auto sales will fall to about 6 percent in October. They based it on online shopping. It doesn't help that this year's October has fewer official "selling days" than last year. The poor comparison is also caused by the strong sales in 2015.
KBB also pointed out that the mid-size car segment with the exception of the Chevrolet Malibu and Subaru Legacy was in freefall.
According to the Autodata Corp, US automakers will announce their October sales on Nov. 1.
The Highs And Lows: Sales And Incentives
Forbes further reports that incentive spending is up by 12 percent from last Oct. 2015. It averaged $3,726 per unit through the first part of October. As for the forecasting firm LMC Automotive, they are projecting for a full year sales of 17.4 million cars and trucks. This will only be a 0.2 percent decline from last year.
