U.S. sales of new cars and trucks hit a record high in 2016, automakers said on Wednesday, and investors bid up shares in the sector as strong consumer confidence and relatively low fuel prices bolstered the industry's outlook. December sales rose 3 percent, and on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis were 18.43 million vehicles.
The results prompted executives from the three biggest sellers in the U.S. market, GM, Ford, and Toyota Motor Corp, (7203.T), to predict that this year's sales will be near 2016's record levels. U.S. consumer confidence reached levels not seen in 15 years in December. Auto sales are an early indicator of consumer spending, and account for about a fifth of U.S. retail spending. GM's December sales rose 10 percent, Ford was up 0.3 percent and Toyota increased 2 percent. All three automakers' results, lifted by strong demand for pickup trucks and SUVs, beat Wall Street expectations.
Ford said it sold 87,512 F-Series pickups in December, the lineup’s best overall sales month in 11 years. The F-series was the best-selling model line in the United States last year, for the 40th year in a row. Rogue, a compact SUV from Nissan Motor Co, (7201.T) in December was the fourth best-selling model in the U.S. market and showed a sales increase of 53 percent from a year earlier. Pickups and SUVs accounted for 59.5 percent of 2016 auto sales, up from 55.8 percent in 2015. Pickup trucks and compact SUVs held the first six spots in the monthly top-selling models list. Strong consumer discounts, also called sales incentives, also helped December's sales.
