News Coverage
March U.S. Auto Sales Expected To Decline Amid Laundry List Of Obstacles
Friday March 29, 2019
Article Highlights
- [Sales of new cars and trucks is] likely to get worse. Much worse. Cox [Automotive] Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke laid out a list of obstacles that would make a contestant on American Ninja Warrior blanch.
- “Number one, the decelerating economy, number two, the surprises related to tax refunds and the negative economic trends in some regions, number three interest rates, number four record vehicle prices, number five.credit tightening, number six, competition from used and number seven, the threat of tariffs longer term.”
- Regarding the slowing of the U.S. economy Smoke described it as a “rapid deceleration” with two straight quarters where the speed of growth has cooled, and “this current quarter is highly likely to continue this trend.”
Forbes, March 28, 2019 — When automakers report U.S. auto sales next Tuesday, the numbers are expected to once again be negative amid fluctuating consumer confidence, the threat of import tariffs and worsening affordability conditions.
On a conference call with reporters covering first quarter results, analysts at Cox Automotive estimated sales of new cars and trucks in the U.S. will come in higher in March than February but almost 7% below March, 2018. That would make it the third straight month of sales declines. The expected bump in actual sales this month would increase seasonally adjusted average sales rate to 16.8 million vehicles, said Zo Rahim, Manager of Economics and Industry Insights at Cox Automotive. That’s up from February’s sales rate of 16.5 million units but down from 17.2 million.