U.S. vehicle sales rise above expectations in January

U.S. vehicle sales rose 0.9 percent to 16.85 million units in January, coming above consensus expectations, which called for sales to stay the same in January. On a raw sales volume basis, 1.13 million vehicles came in strong in January, falling 0.2 percent relative to the year prior.

Sales of Kia, Toyota and Hyundai recorded some of the largest year-on-year rises on the month, rising 8 percent, 6.3 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Nissan and Honda recorded fall in sales by 20.8 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.

Sales of nearly all luxury brands came in higher. Porsche, BMW, Audi and Jaguar Land Rover recorded rise of 16.2 percent, 10.9 percent, 9.9 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Tesla recorded a sharp decline in sales of 65.1 percent.

Passenger vehicles dropped 6.2 percent, accounting for all of January’s fall, while sales of light trucks were higher on the month.

Vehicle sales began the year on a slightly better footing, gaining back some of the losses that were seen at the end of 2019.

“Even so, anecdotal evidence suggests that weaker retail volume may have helped restrain sales in January. While some deterioration in affordability has helped to restrain recent sales, we expect the combination of low interest rates and ongoing income gains to support a level of sales in the 16.7-16.9 million range for 2020”, said TD Economics in a research report.