The BEA released their estimate of light vehicle sales for February this morning. The BEA estimates sales of 15.67 million SAAR in February 2021 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), down 5.7% from the January sales rate, and down 6.6% from February 2020.
This was below the consensus estimate of 16.4 million SAAR.
Click on graph for larger image.
This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and the BEA’s estimate for February (red).
The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April was the worst month.
Since April, sales have increased, but are still down year-over-year,
The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.
Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate of 15.673 million SAAR.
Sales in February were probably negatively impacted by the poor weather in many parts of the country.