NADA forecasts 17.1 million sales in 2017
The strong economic growth that propelled new-vehicle sales to back-to-back record years in 2015 and 2016 is on track to continue into 2017, NADA chief economist Steven Szakaly reported at NADAês Convention in New Orleans.
Our baseline forecast, taking in all of the pre-election considerations, is for 17.1 million new vehicles in 2017, said Szakaly. Thatês a slight decline of about 350,000 units from 2016, but it is still a very, very strong year.
Szakaly sees sustained sales resulting from several factors, including positive GDP growth, an excellent employment rate, rising consumer confidence, positive equity markets and stable oil prices.
Fundamentally, I think consumers are at a point where the market, while not saturated, is now reaching a plateau, and that is why we are looking at sales declining from 17.4 million in 2016 to 17.1 million this year, Szakaly said. But he also believes that if even some of Trumpês tax cuts and his infrastructure spending proposal pass Congress, that will help boost economic growth and economic activity.
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