What it is: U.S. new-vehicle registration data gathered by the financial services firm Experian. The data set provides greater detail than monthly or quarterly sales reports from automakers. Experian breaks down the new registrations by state, region, fuel type and other categories. The California New Car Dealers Association uses the Experian data in its quarterly sales report.
Where it comes from: Experian collects the new registrations filed with individual state departments of motor vehicles and other sources to feed its North American vehicle database. Experian says its database has information on more than 900 million current and out-of-operation vehicles.
How it’s used: Registration data offers granular detail to identify sales trends and also provides a window into manufacturer sales activity. For example, Tesla does not break out its reported global sales numbers by individual country on a monthly basis, but the new registration data serves as a rough equivalent of Tesla’s U.S. sales. Registrations provide a monthly snapshot of electric vehicle sales by other automakers, some of which report only quarterly. The data allows for monthly analysis of EV registrations by brand, model and state.
How it might be misused: Because of the multiple levels of data involved, there is a risk of making apples-to-oranges comparisons. For example, Tesla’s EV market share is currently falling as other automakers launch more EVs, but its U.S. sales volume is booming.