United States - New Vehicle Sales: Autos and light trucks

For the U.S., the count of new motor vehicles sold, as computed by the BEA from multiple sources. Vehicles are categorized as autos, light trucks and heavy trucks. Domestic auto product, inventories, sales; foreign sales (i.e., U.S. sales of imported vehicles).

• Measurements:
  • Thousands of units (Ths. Units, Ths. #)
  • Percent (%)
• Adjustments:
  • Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
  • Seasonally adjusted (SA)
  • Seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR)
• Native frequency: Monthly
• Start date: As early as 1967m1

The vehicles are categorized as:

• Autos - all passenger cars, including station wagons.
• Light trucks - trucks up to 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, including minivans and sport utility vehicles. Prior to the 2003 Benchmark Revision light trucks were up to 10,000 pounds.
• Heavy trucks - trucks more than 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight. Prior to the 2003 Benchmark Revision heavy trucks were more than 10,000 pounds.

With these concepts:

• Domestic sales - U.S. sales of vehicles assembled in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
• Foreign sales - U.S. sales of vehicles produced elsewhere.
• Domestic auto production - Autos assembled in the U.S.
• Domestic auto inventories - U.S. inventories of autos assembled in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Excludes light and heavy trucks.

Sales estimates (PCE and PFI) for new cars and trucks are prepared using unit sales, allocations by sector, and estimates of average expenditure per vehicle; for annual estimates of new truck sales through 2001 and new car sales through 1997, manufacturers' shipments data are used. Further information on the use of auto unit sales in the preparation of PCE estimates can be found in U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Personal Consumption Expenditures, Methodology Paper Series MP-6 (1990).

Seasonally adjusted auto and truck sales data, and seasonally adjusted autoinventories are used in the preparation of estimates of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private fixed investment (PFI), and change in private inventories (CIPI) components of gross domestic product (GDP), which are produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) as part of the national income and product accounts (NIPA's).

Data sources  

Domestic and foreign auto sales, foreign light truck sales--Ward's Communications, Inc.  Ward's Automotive Reports.  Detroit, MI:  Ward's, monthly.

Domestic truck sales--Ward's Automotive Reports. Detroit, MI: Ward's, monthly, December 1998 to present.  American Automobile Manufacturers Association.  "U.S. Retail Sales of Trucks by GVWR and Manufacturer." Detroit, MI: AAMA, monthly, through November 1998.    

Auto production--Ward's Automotive Reports. Detroit, MI: Ward's, monthly, December 1998 to present.  American Automobile Manufacturers Association.  "U.S. Passenger Car Production." Detroit, MI: AAMA, monthly, through November 1998.

Canadian imports, exports--Estimates based on data from the U.S. International Trade Commission on-line database, monthly, January 2002 to present. Ward's Automotive Reports.  Detroit, MI: Ward's, monthly, December 1998 through December 2001.  American Automobile Manufacturers Association. "Factory Sales of Passenger Cars."  Detroit, MI:  AAMA, monthly, through November 1998.

Mexican imports--Estimates based on data from the U.S. International Trade Commission on-line database, monthly, January 2002 to present. U.S. Department of Commerce.  Bureau of the Census.  U.S. General Imports and Imports for Consumption.  Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, monthly, January 1985 to December 2001.

Auto inventories--Ward's Automotive Reports.  Detroit, MI: Ward's, monthly, December 1998 to present.  American Automobile Manufacturers Association. "Passenger Car Sales in the U.S. Reported by U.S. Manufacturers. Detroit, MI: AAMA, monthly, through November 1998.

Yes. The dataset is updated twice per month: preliminary data at the start of the month, and revisions around day 20.

Seasonal factors for unit sales have been recalculated from January 2013 through June 2019 for autos and light trucks. Seasonal factors for auto unit sales and light truck unit sales are produced by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB).

Seasonal factors for Canadian auto imports, Mexican auto imports, auto exports and heavy trucks have been recalculated from January 2002 through June 2019. Canadian auto imports, Mexican auto imports, auto exports and heavy truck seasonal factors are produced by the BEA.

Further reading

At the source:

• BEA data file with readme: definitions, sources, etc.
• Selected motor vehicle indictors (table, 1992 to 1999)
• NIPA table 7.2.5S: Auto and truck unit sales, production, inventories, expenditures, and price (recent monthly periods)
• Why did motor vehicle domestic unit production in the third quarter of 2006 decline, while the real—inflation adjusted—value of motor vehicle output in GDP increased?