JD Power sees U.S. auto sales gain in December

DETROIT (Reuters) - Auto forecasting firm J.D. Power and Associates on Wednesday said it expected U.S. December vehicle sales to rise to 11.2 million units on an annualized basis, up 9 percent from a year earlier.

The firm, which gathers sales data from 8,900 U.S. auto dealers, based its forecast on reported transactions for the first 17 days of the month.

J.D. Power said it expected December sales of cars and light trucks in the United States to reach 1,029,600 units, up 7 percent from a year earlier before adjusting for the number of sales days in the month.

The seasonally adjusted sales rate tracked by analysts had been 10.3 million vehicles in December 2008. It was 10.9 million last month.

"The market is continuing to improve, with the relative strength of December sales supporting a year-end rally," Gary Dilts, senior vice president at J.D. Power said in a statement.

Based on the strength of the December sales results, J.D. Power said it expected full-year 2009 U.S. sales to total 10.4 million vehicles. That would be the lowest tally since 1982.

Without the gain in December sales, some analysts had said they expected a full-year total closer to 10.3 million vehicles, which would have been the lowest sales total since 1970.

J.D. Power said it expected 2010 U.S. sales to recover to near 11.5 million vehicles, keeping unchanged its previous forecast for a gradual improvement in demand.

Hurt by tight credit, a depressed housing market and high unemployment, U.S. auto sales have dropped by over 35 percent over the last two years.

Major automakers, including Ford Motor Co (F.N) and General Motors Co GM.UL, have set first quarter production schedules at higher levels in a bet that the market will continue to see a gradual recovery from the lows of earlier this year.

Automakers are set to release December and full-year 2009 auto sales data on January 3.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)