SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Apparently, it’s not just the air outside that has heated up in recent weeks.

New-vehicle sales have reached a boiling point and will likely cap what would be the best May since 2007, according to TrueCar.com, which along with other industry observers, released its new-car sales projections on Thursday.

Analysts with J.D. Power and Associates and LMC Automotive, Edmunds.com and TrueCar are all forecasting total new-vehicle sales in the ballpark of 1.4 million units for May.

TrueCar’s projection is the highest among the three analyses released Thursday, as the company predicts that new-vehicle sales will climb 32 percent year-over-year (unadjusted) and eclipse the 1.4 million mark by 665 units.

Moreover, this would represent a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 14.5 million, up a whopping 2.8 million units from the rate in May 2011 and even with April.

“Pent-up demand continues to fuel auto sales at a steady and sustainable level in May,” stated Jesse Toprak, TrueCar’s vice president of market intelligence.

“All major manufacturers will see double-digit growth this month; Toyota’s recovery stemming from the natural disasters has happened at a breakneck pace and sales this month for Toyota will be the highest we have seen in a few years led by strong sales of the Camry and Prius along with strong sales from GM, which will be the highest since September 2008,” he continued.

Meanwhile, the report from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive is calling for total new-vehicle sales of 1.38 million units, up from 1.06 million in May 2011 and 1.18 million in April. This would result in a total SAAR of 14.3 million units, versus 14.4 million in April and 11.7 million in May 2011.

For the retail side, in particular, the projection is for 1.09 million sales, up from 833,847 retail new-vehicle sales in May 2011 and 908,685 sales in April.

When adjustments for two extra selling days in May 2012 are taken into account, this past month would be up 20 percent year-over-year, analysts noted.

“This is the largest year-over-year gain since February 2011, when sales increased 27 percent, compared with February 2010,” said John Humphrey, senior vice president of global automotive operations at J.D. Power. “The fact that we continue to see strong month-over-month results in retail sales points to the underlying strength of the recovery for the industry going forward.

“In light of the actions that many automakers took to lower their cost base during the recent downturn, this continued increase in volume certainly bodes well for sector profitability in the near term,” he added.

The retail SAAR for May would be 11.6 million, compared to 10.3 million in April and 9.2 million in May 2011, according to J.D. Power/LMC Automotive.

Over at Edmunds, analysts are calling for 1.39 million total new-vehicle sales  which would mark a 31.1-percent uptick (unadjusted for selling days) and a 17.5-percent month-over-month gain. The resulting SAAR would be 14.4 million.

“Almost halfway through the year, the auto industry keeps chugging along toward a mid-14 million unit sales pace,” said Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst at Edmunds.com. “With continued pent-up demand and consumers gaining more and more access to credit, there’s every reason to believe that sales can continue at this rate through the rest of the year.”