The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) reported that new light-vehicle sales in October 2024 came in with a SAAR of 16 million units, the highest in six months and was up 4.6 percent from October 2023.
Through the first 10 months of the year, new light-vehicle sales totaled 13.02 million units, an increase of 1.6 percent compared with the same period in 2023, according to the NADA Market Beat Report released Oct. 5.
New light-vehicle inventory on the ground and in transit increased, totaling 2.94 million units at the end of October, up 4.3 percent from September 2024 and 36.2 percent from October 2023. In total, the NADA forecasts total new light-vehicle sales in 2024 at 15.7 million units.
Fed Cuts Expected
“We expect that inventory will increase in November before declining in December, as is typical at the end of the year,” the report stated. “Looking ahead to 2025, we expect that vehicle inventory will hover around 3 million units during most of the year.”
The dealer’s association expects “additional cuts to the Fed funds rate” at one of the two Fed meetings to be held before the end of the year. It is predicting two 25 basis point rate cuts by the end of 2024—for a total 100 this year— and the same total for 2025.
“We believe that these actions by the Fed will lead to lower auto loan finance rates next year, which should be a tailwind for new- and used- vehicle sales in 2025,” the authors of the report wrote.
EV Sales Rising
The association highlighted that alternative-fueled vehicles continue to chip away at the market share held by ICE-powered vehicles. Through the first 10 months of the year, alternative-fuel vehicles accounted for 19.5 percent of all new vehicles sold.
Conventional hybrid vehicles have made up most of the broader alternative-fuel category and have seen the largest year-over-year sales gain. Year to date, conventional hybrid vehicles accounted for 9.8 percent of all new vehicles sold, and sales have increased 34.1 percent from the same period last year.
Battery electric vehicles (EV) have represented 7.8 percent of sales so far this year, and EV sales volume increased by 7.9 percent year over year.
