New car sales will hit 15 million seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) in May, which is an expected 6% year-over-year improvement, according to Kelley Blue Book, a provider of new and used car information.

"The Big Three will continue to benefit from a strong pickup truck market, with each domestic automaker anticipated to post gains slightly better than the overall industry average," said Alec Gutierrez, Kelley Blue Book’s senior market analyst of automotive insights. "Meanwhile, Nissan is expected to post the single largest gain in sales this month, thanks to strong demand for the redesigned Altima, Sentra and Rogue, each of which experienced an increase of greater than 30 percent in sales last month."

Similar to previous years, Kelley Blue Book expects a surge in new vehicle sales during Memorial Day weekend, since manufacturers typically offer some of the most attractive incentives of the year. For example, Chevrolet is offering $500 in Memorial Day cash, in addition to some of the offers available on their most popular models.

1 Historical data from OEM sales announcements
2 Kelley Blue Book Automotive Insights
3 Includes brands not shown

TrueCar Reports New Car Sales Up for May

TrueCar.com, a provider of new car pricing information and trends, today released its May 2013 sales and incentives forecast. The forecast includes the following:

• For May 2013, new light vehicle sales in the U.S. (including fleet) is expected to be 1,435,495 units - up 8.5 percent from May 2012 and 12.1 percent from April 2013 (on an unadjusted basis).

• The May 2013 forecast translates into a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate ("SAAR") of 15.2 million new car sales, up from 14.9 million in April 2013 and from 13.9 million in May 2012.

• Retail sales are up almost 6% compared to May 2012 and up 12% from April 2013.

• Fleet and rental sales are expected to make up 20.2% of total industry sales in May 2013.

• The industry average incentive spending per unit will be approximately $2,482 in May 2013, which represents a decrease of 3% from May 2012 and down 1.7% from April 2013.

• Used car sales (sales from franchise dealerships, independent dealerships and private party sales) are estimated to be 3,345,674. The ratio of new to used is approximately 1:3 for May 2013.

"Full size truck sales continue to gain momentum in May, and we expect the segment to post a 22% increase compared to the nearly 9% industry increase," said Jesse Toprak , senior analyst for TrueCar.com. "Stability in the industry is now the norm, which is a positive for automakers as it results in the ability to optimize production levels, therefore improving profitability."

Forecasts for the top eight manufacturers for May 2013:

"Incentive spending has continued to decline in May, painting an even better picture of profitability for automakers," said Kristen Andersson, analyst for TrueCar.com. "In May, Nissan was the only major automaker to decrease incentive spending, post a double digit sales increase and gain a full percentage point of market share compared to last year, due to continued interest in the redesigned Altima."