New truck sales of Chevy Silverado and Ford F-150 are credited for making December a stellar sales month for pickups.With national gas prices at their lowest point since 2009, Kelley Blue Book expects expects full-size pickup trucks to be the top segment in December.
Total pickup sales for December 2015 are estimated to be at least 241,000 units. That’s a 14 percent increase over December 2014 sales of 211,240 trucks.
This segment also was helped in 2015 by the new Ford F-Series and a surge from the Chevrolet Silverado, and the segment should report the highest sales total since 2007 at nearly 2.2 million units.
“December has become one of the biggest sales months of the year, helped by year-end targets and prominent holiday sales events,” says Tim Fleming, analyst for Kelley Blue Book.
“As we move into the new year, expect this strength to continue, although at a slower rate than this year. In 2016, Kelley Blue Book forecasts sales in the range of 17.5 million to 18 million units, which would represent another record-breaking year.”
KBB reports that there are several factors that could disrupt the new-car sales momentum, including rising interest rates, an increasing supply of off-lease units that could weaken used-car prices, and increasing manufacturer incentive spending that KBB has seen in recent months, which could be representative of a slowdown in natural consumer demand.
