Domestic auto sales for the month of December is projected to take a significant 15 percent jump, according to a new report by auto analyst JD Power and Associates. Automotive News reports:

Expect a 15 percent spike in new vehicle sales in December, powered by a retail surge, according to projections released today by industry forecaster J.D. Power and Associates.

“The market is continuing to improve, with the relative strength of December sales supporting a year-end rally,” Gary Dilts, senior vice president of global automotive operations at J.D. Power, said in a statement.

This would be an enormous boost to the auto industry. Monthly domestic auto sales have only gone up relative to the year before twice in 2009, in August and November. In both cases the increase was very small, and in the case of August the increase was spurred almost entirely by the cash for clunkers program.

To have a strong 15 percent jump in auto sales for the final month in what has been perhaps the worst year in history for the auto companies, and to do it without any government programs to artificially and temporarily boost sales, would be a monumental boon to a beleaguered industry.