Automotive Retail Summit, April 12 – COVID-19 has caused huge disruption and accelerated dealerships and OEMs to revisit their sales process. For 2021, we must figure out how to execute this new online and offline customer relationship to meet customers changing expectations. The LIVE CEO Panel: U.S Top Dealerships Perspective, moderated by Michelle Krebs, executive … Continued
The trend in new daily COVID-19 cases resumed increasing last week after stalling the week before. The FDA paused the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but the vaccination pace still increased. Rising cases and negative news about vaccines helped take the wind out of the upward trend in consumer sentiment. Even so, economic … Continued
The Kelley Blue Book data team counted 3,908,738 automobiles sold in the first quarter of 2021, a healthy increase from the same period a year ago and helped by building momentum in March. The total sales for the quarter might have been higher, our analysts note, if not for tight inventories and freak winter storms … Continued
The estimated average transaction price for a light vehicle in the United States was $40,472 in March 2021, according to the valuation analysts at Kelley Blue Book. New-vehicle prices increased $1,660 (up 4.3%) from March 2020, while falling $608 (down 1.5%) from February 2021. For the fifth straight month, affordability improved in March, according to the Cox Automotive/Moody’s Analytics Vehicle Affordability Index, published earlier today. With both the price and the average financing … Continued
For the fifth straight month, affordability improved in March, according to the Cox Automotive/Moody’s Analytics Vehicle Affordability Index. The number of median weeks of income needed to purchase a new vehicle declined to 31.8 weeks from an upwardly revised 32 weeks in February. The index shows that new vehicles have become relatively more affordable since … Continued
Q1 2021 was big for electrified vehicles. In all, electrified vehicles – the combined total of EVs, hybrids and plug-in hybrids – accounted for 7.8% of the total sales last quarter, up from 4.8% in the same period one year ago. Electrified vehicle sales growth far outpaced industry growth, with EV volume growing by 44.8%, … Continued
Robust March sales rapidly drew down new-vehicle inventory to the lowest levels in some time just as the spring selling season got rolling, according to a Cox Automotive analysis of vAuto Available Inventory data. 2.66M Total Inventory 59 Days’ Supply $39,717 Average Listing Price The total U.S. supply of available unsold new vehicles stood at … Continued
The certified pre-owned (CPO) market had a record-breaking month in March by setting a historic high. For March, 286,061 CPO units were sold, beating the last record high set in March 2019 of 265,878 units. Sales of CPO vehicles increased 80% year over year in March and ended up 36% month over month compared to … Continued
Access to auto credit increased again in March, and auto loan credit was the most accessible since April 2020, according to the Dealertrack Auto Credit Availability Index for all types of auto loans. The All Loans Index increased 2.5% to 98.1 in March, reflecting that auto credit was easier to get in the month compared to February. Access remains tighter by 0.7% year over year. All loan types saw loosening in March. Certified pre-owned (CPO) loosened the most, while financing provided through independent used dealers loosened the least. On a … Continued
The trend in new daily COVID-19 cases stopped increasing this week after two weeks of growth. Improving conditions are leading to rollbacks of restrictions, and economic activity is picking up. However, the jobless claims data last week were again mixed. New York and California, states that have not yet rolled back restrictions like other states, … Continued