Forecasted to sail over October’s highs, Edmunds.com is predicting this month’s SAAR will reach 13.6 million.

This translates into 991,296 million new-car sales for November. 

So what are the big factors behind the predicted climb?

First, this past Thanksgiving weekend brought higher auto sales than initially expected, a trend that Edmunds.com is contributing to “the current economic environment and buyers’ bargain-hunting mentality.”

The bargain hunters out there were met with impressive OEM incentives, as well as used-car deals, coercing even more sale-savvy customers out to the lots.

Edmunds.com senior analyst Ray Zhou commented on the holiday sales, noting, “In the last two years, Thanksgiving weekend brought higher auto sales than we typically see, probably due to the current economic environment and buyers’ bargain-hunting mentality.”

Another contributing factor to the high sales predictions for this month is more readily available inventory, on top of beginning year-end holiday sales events, according to Edmunds.com analysts.

“There were positive forces in the auto market in November, as more inventory was available and automakers began year-end holiday sales events. Deal-oriented messages work more effectively than ever before,” stated Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell.

“While sales are strong now, we are still witnessing the deferred demand from the summer months, so we cannot expect this sales level to be considered the ‘new normal,’” she continued, noting that the rise in sales may represent a bubble brought on by pent-up demand from the recession.

The company also highlighted which manufacturers are expected to hold the biggest slice of the market pie this month.

General Motors is expected to come out on top this month with 185,309 sales, a 9.9-percent increase year-over-year.  However, this marks a 0.8-percent slide from October.

Ford is expected to follow closely behind, with 164,805 sales, marking a 7.7-percent increase year-over-year and a 1.9-decline from October.

Interestingly, even after the Thai floods caused the OEM to adjust its production schedules, Toyota is expected to garner 133,782 sales this month, sliding in behind the Blue Oval. That said, this number still represents a 0.7-percent decline year-over-year and a 0.2-percent slide from October.

But the news is not so good for Honda, who was arguably the hardest hit of the Japanese automakers by the Thai floods.  The OEM is expected to sell 91,835 units this month, a 1.6-percent year-over-year decline and a 6.6-percent decline from October.

Edmunds.com also offered the following charts to illustrate its sales predictions: