Report: September Sales Pace Will Set Record for 2017

Retail sales of new cars and light trucks in the U.S. this month are likely to slip 3% to 1.21 million units in September, according to a joint J.D. Power and LMC Automotive forecast. But the annual sales pace of 15 million units is by far the best so far this year.

The market researchers say demand was aided by record-high sales incentives, which rose to nearly $4,100 per sale in September.

Hurricanes Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida have disrupted demand across much of the southeastern U.S. Power-LMC says sales have since jumped 14% in the South Central region as residents rebound from Harvey. But volumes are down 16% in Florida, where Irma struck two weeks later and Southeast region residents are still recovering.

Both regions are likely to see year-on-year sales gains well into 2018 as residents replace at least 500,000 vehicles damaged or destroyed by the storms, says LMC chief forecaster Jeff Schuster.

LMC now expects total light-vehicle sales, which includes fleet business, will total 17.1 million units this year (down 1% from 2016), including 13.9 million retail deliveries (down 8%).