DETROIT (Reuters) - Strong sales of small SUVs will help push U.S. July auto sales to a 3.2 percent gain as full-year sales are headed to 17.1 million vehicles, J.D. Power and LMC Automotive forecast on Friday.

Sales are forecast at 1.48 million vehicles, up 3.2 percent from last July, the industry consultancies said. Retail sales will show the strongest July since 2005, they said.

JD Power and LMC Automotive said the seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate for July will be 17.2 million vehicles.

Major automakers report U.S. July sales on August 3.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Andrew Hay)