All things considered, the auto market in the U.S. is doing remarkably well

By Gary S. Vasilash

According to LMC Automotive, a forecasting and market intelligence firm, in the month of May there were some 1.59-million light vehicles sold in the U.S.

Which in and of itself is somewhat meaningless unless you keep track of things like that.

What may be helpful to know is that that number is a 43% increase compared to May 2020.

Of course, May 2020 was a period when we were in the thick of COVID, with not a whole lot of people going to kick tires unless those tires were on one’s vehicle in one’s garage.

Another thing that those who look at the numbers do is calculate the annualized rate of sales.

In April the annualized rate was 18.8 million vehicles, which essentially means that if things continued for the rest of the year like April there would be a total of 18.8 million vehicles sold.

In May the annualized rate fell to 17.2 million.

Given that part of LMC’s business is forecasting, that is a good thing, as it has, and continues to predict, that the 2021 light vehicle sales will be 17 million vehicles.

And the good thing for the industry about that is that if it does finish at 17 million, that is an 18% increase over 2020.

Arguably the would be more vehicles sold were it not for the semiconductor shortage.

Last year COVID.

This year the semiconductor problem (and some COVID).

Next year?

Locusts?