October saw auto sales beat expectations as October of 2014 was the best October seen in many years.  Sales came in at an impressive 1.277 million, an improvement over the 1.203 million sold in October of 2013.  The news sets up a good start to the Q4 numbers and should also bode well for SiriusXM Satellite Radio.  The SAAR for October of 2014 was 16.5 million.  This is not the highest SAAR we have seen this year, but it is in the top side of monthly SAAR’s during the year.  Truck sales seemed to lead the way.

Most automakers saw month over month gains.  The year to date total on car sales now stands at 13.67 million with two months of sales left in the year.  Hitting 16 million would seem to be well in hand and challenging 16.5 million an outside possibility.  Historically, November is better than October and December better than November.

For SiriusXM any new car sales help.  The company has different types of deals that relate to when a new car is counted as a subscriber.  In October the companies that count as subscriptions at manufacture accounted for 39.47% of the pool.  The companies that count subscribers at the time of sale accounted for 13.14% of the pool, and the companies that do not count trials as subscriptions accounted for 47.39%.

october auto sales