The big gainer, once again, is Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU), which is expected to post a sales volume gain of 22% year-over-year. FCA is also expected to add 1.7% to its market share, although that marks a decline from 13.7% in September to 13.3% in October. Kelley Blue Book (KBB) forecast FCA sales at 167,000 units in October, up from 140,000 a year ago. The estimate from Edmunds.com comes in at nearly 171,000. The big seller continues to be the new Jeep Cherokee.
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) maintains its market share lead with an 18% share (level with September) and new vehicle sales for October of 231,000, according to Edmunds.com, and 236,000 according to KBB. GM is expected to get a boost in pickup truck sales while its chief rival continues to manage inventory ahead of a new model.
Speaking of GM’s big rival, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is expected to post lower year-over-year sales in October. Last year the company sold 191,000 units and this year’s total is expected to be 185,000 (Edmunds.com) to 186,000 (KBB). The new aluminum-body F-150 pickup will begin trickling to dealers late this year and Ford anticipates a big seller. The new pickup had better be — Ford’s market share could drop from 15.9% a year ago to 14.5% in October.
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Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is forecast to sell 179,000 new vehicles in October, according to both KBB and Edmunds.com. The company’s market share will remain flat at 14%, ranking it third behind GM and Ford, and just ahead of FCA.
Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) is figured to sell 120,000 vehicles, according to KBB, and 124,000 units by Edmunds.com. The company’s market share is forecast at 9.7%, up from 9.5% a year ago.
Nissan is expected to sell around 101,000 to 102,000 new vehicles in October. The company’s Rogue compact SUV has been a hot seller, along with Toyota’s RAV4 and the Subaru Forester. The compact SUV/crossover sector is expected to post growth of 13.6% year-over-year, more than double the growth rate of any other segment of the new vehicle market.
Hyundai/Kia are touted to sell 97,000 (Edmunds.com) to 99,000 (KBB) units in October, but drop slightly in market share from 7.7% in October 2013 to 7.6% this year.
Volkswagen, like Ford, is expected to see a drop both in unit sales and market share. Excluding Porsche sales, the company sold nearly 41,000 vehicles in September, and Edmunds.com estimates that unit sales will be down 1%, while KBB has them rising to around 42,500. The company sold 3,600 Porsches last month. VW’s total market share drops from 3.4% a year ago to 3.2% this year, according to Edmunds.com.
The estimate for used car sales in October totals 2.96 million, yielding an SAAR of 35.6 million units, down from a SAAR of 36.3 million in September. Both October 2013 and October 2014 had 27 selling days; September 2014 had 24 selling days.
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