Auto assemblies decline in April    

Annualized U.S. assemblies of autos and light trucks dropped from over 10 million in March to 7.5 million in April (not seasonally adjusted). The broader picture is that assemblies have been relatively flat for the last 12 months ranging between 7.5 and 8.7 million units annualized (seasonally adjusted). Our graph is a 3-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annualized sales. Year over year percentage growth using the three-month moving average has flattened out as numbers are no longer being compared to the trough of the recession. Average monthly seasonally adjusted assemblies were 11.4 million from January of 2001 through December of 2007 indicating that auto assemblies are still at depressed levels.