MCLEAN, Va. (June 29, 2015) - The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) announced today an increase in its sales forecast for new light vehicles from 16.94 to 17.17 million.

“Purchases and leases of new cars and light trucks will continue as a stronger overall economy continues to drive demand,” said NADA Chief Economist Steven Szakaly during NADA's quarterly economic briefing today. “While we've had a slower than normal recovery from this recession, we are seeing the sixth consecutive year of new light vehicle sales growth.”

For 2016, NADA has forecasted sales of 17.62 new cars and light trucks.

Analyzing the used-vehicle market, the NADA Used Car Guide's Larry Dixon said used-vehicle prices have remained steady despite growing pressure from the new-vehicle market and an increasing supply of late-model used vehicles.

“NADA forecasted a slight decline of 0.3 percent for used prices of vehicles up to 8 years in age through the first half of 2015, so the year's result so far has essentially played out as we have expected,” Dixon added. “We expect used-vehicle prices to decline by 2 percent over the second half of 2015 compared to levels recorded year-to-date.”

NADA's current forecast has used-vehicles prices falling by an average of 4.5 percent per year in 2016 and 2017 caused by a rising supply of used vehicles and increased pressure from the new-vehicle market. By 2017, NADA expects the supply of late-model used vehicles to be about 28 percent higher than in 2014.