Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/10/2013 -- US light vehicle sales ended 2012 on a high note, with growth of 9% year-on-year (y-o-y) in December, taking full-year sales to 14.491mn units, slightly ahead of BMI's projected 14.362mn. With a deal reached to address the 'fiscal cliff', BMI believes the industry is in a good position to continue its recovery, with a return to the 16mn unit milestone well within reach by at least 2014.

There are still risks to this outlook, not least the outstanding fiscal issues still to be negotiated. However, the aversion of the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, plus the strong base from 2012 has prompted us to take a slightly more optimistic view for 2013. We have revised our forecast for passenger car sales growth slightly upward to 8% from our previous projection of 5%, and our light truck sales forecast from 3% to 5% with new models set to boost the truck market. This results in total light vehicle sales of 15.84mn units in 2013.

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On a company basis, it is no surprise that Japanese brands reclaimed sales and market share in 2012, following a disaster-ridden 2011. Toyota Motor reported growth of 26.6%, which helped the company regain a full 1.5% of market share to claim 14.4% of sales in 2012 compared with 12.9% in 2011 when supplies were disrupted. Honda Motor's sales were up 24%, led by 29% growth in passenger car sales, while Nissan Motor, which was not as badly impacted by the natural disasters in 2011, achieved a 9.5% rise in sales.

A strong comeback from the Japanese brands, plus sustained steady growth from Hyundai Motor (8.9% and Kia Motors (14.9%), means that Asian brands accounted for 45.6% of the market, while the share of the domestic brands slipped to 44.5% from 46.9% in 2011.

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