Same song, just louder – SUVs/pick-ups power US January sales

The US light vehicle market got off to a strong start in January. Though typically one of the weakest sales months of the year, last month saw the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) hit 16.55 million units, according to AutoData. That's the highest SAAR for January since 2006. January 2015 had one extra selling day and an extra weekend compared to the same month last year. Overall, light vehicle sales totalled 1.149 million units last month, up about 13% compared with the same month a year ago.