May U.S. auto sales seen down on two fewer selling days than year ago

[June 01, 2016]  DETROIT (Reuters) - The U.S. auto industry looks set to remain on course for another record year in 2016, even if new vehicle sales in May reported later on Wednesday fall as much as expected, analysts and economists said.

Forty economists polled by Thomson Reuters expect on average a seasonally adjusted selling rate of 17.3 million vehicles for May, not greatly changed from April but down from 17.8 million a year earlier.

Most analysts expect a year-on-year drop in sales, in large part because of two fewer selling days and one less weekend this past month.

Edmunds.com said sales would be down 5.8 percent from a year earlier, while fellow industry consultancy TrueCar estimated a 4 percent decline.

All but one of the top-for selling automakers in the U.S. market are expected to report lower sales.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sales were seen unchanged by Edmunds and rising 1.2 percent by TrueCar.

General Motors Co sales were seen dropping 13 percent by Edmunds and 8 percent by TrueCar. Ford Motor Co  sales were seen down 3 percent by Edmunds and 5 percent by TrueCar. Toyota Motor Corp sales were forecast to fall 9 percent by Edmunds and 8 percent by TrueCar.

Consultancies J.D. Power and LMC Automotive collectively last month lowered their forecast for 2016 auto sales to 17.7 million vehicles from 17.8 million..

In 2015, vehicle sales were a record 17.47 million vehicles, according to Autodata Corp.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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