New light-vehicle sales in the US will drop to 14.2 million units in 2008 — a 12 percent decrease from 16.1 million units in 2007 and a reduction of 750,000 units from the 14.95 million projected earlier this year, according to a revised forecast by JD Power and Associates, MarketingCharts writes.

That 14.2 million figure would be the lowest since 1993, JD Power said.

Specifically, fleet sales are projected to drop to 2.6 million units, a 21 percent decrease from 2007. Retail sales, which reflect actual consumer behavior in the new-vehicle marketplace, are expected to decline 10 percent, to 11.6 million units.

The forecast revision is prompted by a deteriorating economic environment, prolonged effects wrought by the credit crisis, elevated gas prices and a reduction in the daily rental fleet market, J.D. Power said.

Although sales for smaller vehicles are rapidly increasing, the growth rate of smaller vehicle segments has not been enough to offset significant declines experienced in large-vehicle segments:

• Retail sales for the compact basic segment from January to June 2008 were up 28 percent compared with the first half of 2007.
• In contrast, sales in the first half of 2008 for all vehicles in the large segments — which include large pickups and SUVs — were down 26 percent, compared with the same time period in 2007.

MarketingCharts has more findings from the study.