Oct. 28, 2013—Edmunds.com, a resource for car shopping and automotive information, recently released a forecast calling for a 12.7 percent year-over-year increase for new vehicle sales in October, showing a minimal effect from the government shutdown.
Edmunds predicts 1,229,860 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in October for a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 15.5 million.
Edmunds also predicted a longer shutdown could have been detrimental to the industry.
"It looks like the government shutdown ended just in the nick of time," said Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell. "The week-by-week data suggests that consumers started to get jittery by the middle of the month. But with the government back to work, most lost sales should be made up in the latter half of the month, and the industry's momentum will continue the pace it enjoyed before the disruption in Washington."
GM (215,274), Ford (193,988), Toyota (178,828), Chrysler (139,848) and Honda (120,484) led the pack with vehicles sold but Nissan showed the most significant change from October 2012 with an 18.6 percent increase, followed by Ford (15.5 percent) and Toyota (15.2 percent).
