GM, Ford Sales Expected to Rise in November

DETROIT (TheStreet) -- Forecasters say November auto sales, expected Wednesday, will show continued recovery, increasing 16% to 17% over the same month a year earlier.

Edmunds.com is projecting light vehicle sales will increase by 17% from the same month a year earlier, while TrueCar.com expects a 16% increase. Retail sales are up 17%, said TrueCar.com.

Both firms say the November numbers mean the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate for new car sales is about 12.2 million, up from about 11 million in November 2009.

TheStreet will be live-blogging General Motors'(GM) sales call -- the company's first since going public -- at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Edmunds said individual manufacturers' year-to-date trends continued in November, with Ford(F) sales up 25.6% while Toyota(TM) sales fell 1.8%. GM is expected to show an 11.5% increase, with Chrysler up 22.4% and Honda(HMC) up 16.2%.

Edmunds has projected market share of 19.4% for GM, 17.3% for Ford and 15.2% for Toyota.

"Several consecutive months of year-over-year retail sales improvements indicate that the recovery in consumer demand has not been a coincidence," said TrueCar.com analyst Jesse Toprak. He said December should be the best sales month of the year, due to year-end clearance events, rising demand and new products. He projected total 2011 vehicle sales of 12.7 million units.

Added Edmunds.com analyst Jessica Caldwell: "Seasonal fluctuations notwithstanding, we're seeing some stability and consistency in the marketplace for the first time since the economic downturn."

-- Written by Ted Reed in Charlotte, N.C.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Ted Reed

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints