Edmunds.com, the premier destination for car shopping, forecasts that 1,514,855 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. in April for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of 17.5 million. The projected sales will be a 4.8 percent decrease from March 2016, but a 4.3 percent increase from April 2015. This month's sales are poised to eclipse the April record of 1,500,648 new car and truck sales set in 2005, and 2016 is on track to shatter last year's full-year record of 17.5 million sales.

"Even though Q1 ended with a relatively lackluster March the industry is still as strong as ever, and this month's sales will only reinforce that strength," said Edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell. "Considering that April is typically the calm before the storm of summer sales, there's every reason to believe that 2016 will be a year for the history books."

Edmunds.com estimates that retail SAAR will come in at 14.4 million vehicles in April, with fleet transactions accounting for 18.4 percent of total sales. An estimated 3.3 million used cars will be sold in April, for a SAAR of 38.2 million (compared to 3.6 million – or a SAAR of 37.1 million – used car sales in March).