SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Should the sales pace hold, August could be quite a successful month for automakers and their franchise dealers.

Edmunds.com analysts projected how August new-vehicle sales could finish based on data compiled during the first two weeks of the month.

The site believes if August sales continue at the current rate, they will total approximately 1.03 million units, computing into a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 11.8 million units.

Edmunds.com stipulated that its analysis assumed fleet sales are relatively steady as a percentage of total vehicle sales compared to last month.

Site chief executive officer Jeremy Anwyl went as far as to predict that August sales could be the best of 2010 so far.

"Obviously much can change between now and the end of the month. But the good news is that August could beat March as the best sales month this year," Anwyl indicated.

"Of course, there is always bad news as well. This is a bargain-driven market. As the deals dry up, sales will likely trend down from here," he added.

No matter what's fueling the sales, Edmunds.com thinks several brands could post sizable month-over-month sales gains. Leading the way is BMW, which analysts believe could enjoy a 22-percent higher total in August as compared to its July performance.

Other nameplates the site placed positive expectations upon included Ford and Honda (each up about 7 percent) as well as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen (both about 8 percent higher).

"It looks like bargain hunters are getting serious about taking advantage of the model year-end deals," Anwyl insisted.

While Edmunds.com thinks most other brands should remain stable, the site thinks two could lose sales ground in August. Those two are General Motors (down about 6 percent) and Nissan (off by about 7 percent).

"So far in August, Edmunds.com's monitoring of vehicle retail transactions show some increase from last month, beyond the seasonal norm," explained Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs. "But July car sales were underwhelming in light of the abundant incentives available."