Softer US auto sales highlight the pain from higher rates

Wards outlined softer US auto sales in September and Q3.

Q3 2024 Highlights:

• Q3 sales: 3.88M units, down 1.9% from 3.96M in Q3 2023
• Q3 SAAR: 15.6M units, flat y/y and down from 15.7M in Q2
• Year-to-date sales through September: 11.69M units, up 1% y/y

Hurricane Helene may have cut sales by 100-200K units. I’d also note that higher-priced vehicles are selling fine while lower-priced autos are struggling and that’s a theme we’ve seen across US economic data and in things like dollar stores.

Annualized sales have shown no growth in the past six months overall and the trend appears to be worsening in September data.

• September US light vehicle SAAR came in at 15.8M units, below expectations of 16.1M
• Raw volume for September was 1.17M units, down 12.8% y/y

Big 7 Sept Sales:

• Ford: 142,576 units (-0.3% vs expectations, -10.5% y/y)
• GM: 206,379 units (-0.8% vs expectations, -8.3% y/y)
• Honda: 105,527 units (-6.6% vs expectations, -8.6% y/y)
• Nissan: 65,827 units (-3.2% vs expectations, -11.6% y/y)
• Stellantis: 95,098 units (-3.0% vs expectations, -20.5% y/y)
• Toyota: 162,599 units (-6.0% vs expectations, -20.3% y/y)
• Hyundai/Kia: 127,941 units (+1.5% vs expectations, -10.4% y/y)

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.