Based on a preliminary estimate from WardsAuto, light vehicle sales were at a 17.47 million SAAR in January.



That is down about 2% from January 2016, and down 4.5% from the 18.29 million annual sales rate last month.





Click on graph for larger image.



This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for January (red, light vehicle sales of 17.47 million SAAR from WardsAuto).



This was below the consensus forecast of 17.7 million for January.



After two consecutive years of record sales, it looks like sales will mostly move sideways in 2017.



The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.



Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate.