Waves of off-lease vehicles keep on rolling into dealer used-car lots, but the product mix returning this year and next will present stiff competition to the new-car market, says Charlie Chesbrough, Cox Automotive’s senior economist.

That’s because the returning off-lease vehicles will contain a hefty share of CUVs, SUVs and pickup trucks – “the products consumers are most interested in,” he says.

In contrast, off-lease vehicles in recent years skewed toward cars. Today’s consumers show less interest in those.

As batches of formerly leased utility vehicles and pickups descend on the used-vehicle market, they will threaten new-car segments and “provide a viable alternative for some car shoppers,” Chesbrough says in the 2018 Cox Automotive Used Car Market Report & Outlook.

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