The trend in new daily COVID-19 cases is on the rise again as new variants are spreading rapidly in many areas. Economic activity is also increasing, which is likely contributing to the virus spread but is also helping to improve…
ATLANTA, March 26, 2021 – March U.S. auto sales, when reported next week, will show strong growth over February’s pace and a significant increase over last year’s pandemic hit numbers. The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales this month is forecast…
Tight new-vehicle inventory has been an issue for the industry for nearly a year now, as inventory levels have not fully recovered from production losses in Q2 2020 caused by the pandemic. More recently, in North America, about 30 models are…
Dealer News Today, March 23, 2021 – Today’s guest is Briann Finkelmeyer, senior director of New Car Solutions at Cox Automotive. Brian worked for 20 years on the OEM side of the industry and has since been involved with automotive…
Our Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke joins us once again from his home studio in Atlanta, GA, with the latest on the impacts of COVID-19 on the automotive industry. The latest on COVID-19’s nationwide impact Continuing jobless claims and impacts by…
The trend in new daily COVID-19 cases has stopped declining, but hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall. Improving conditions are leading to rollbacks of restrictions, and economic activity is picking up. But joblessness remains stubbornly high. Jobless claims mixed: The jobless…
The board of the Federal Reserve Bank met earlier this week and confirmed their decision not to move monetary policy and issued a statement seen by many as optimistic: “… indicators of economic activity and employment have turned up recently, although…
U.S. monetary policy was unchanged today as the Fed issued their official statement following their second meeting of 2021. The biggest changes in the official statement were in this section covering current conditions: “…indicators of economic activity and employment have…
The Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index for the first quarter of 2021 was recently published, showcasing how dealers feel about the current state of the automotive market. CBT News host Jim Fitzpatrick is joined by Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for Cox Automotive.…
Late last month, according to data compiled by Xtime, a Cox Automotive software brand, the service department business at an average dealership was down approximately 8% from year-earlier levels. An 8% drop in business is serious but, in fact, it’s…
