U.S. Car Sales Likely to Drop Again in November

Retail car sales in the U.S. are likely to fall 2% to 1.23 million units in November, predict J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. Volume through the first 11 months of 2016 is expected to slip 1%.

The market researchers say the contentious presidential election had little impact on demand this month. But they expect the pace of overall delliveries, which include sales to fleets, will dip to an annualized 17.9 million units from 18.0 million in October. The rate for retail sales is likely to fall to 13.9 million from 14.6 million last month.

The average new-car retail transaction price in November to date climbed to a record $31,600, up from $31,400 a year ago, according to J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. Trucks represent nearly 63% of retail sales for the month compared with 60% in November 2015.

Jeff Schuster, LMC’s senior vice president of forecasting, forecasts total sales this year will reach 17.4 million and perhaps surpass last year’s all-time record by about 10,000 units. He notes that efforts by President-elect Donald Trump to stimulate the domestic economy could push sales higher in 2017.