Market Insights and Outlook - Cox Automotive Inc.

Smoke on Cars Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke shares his insights on macroeconomic trends, business cycles, demand and the economic factors influencing the automotive industry today. See Insights ›

Commentary & Voices Our team of analysts and experts share their reactions, insights and unique perspectives on the behaviors, data and industry moves that are affecting the broader automotive business. See Insights ›

Data Point The automotive industry is a data-driven business. These are the data points that our team of experts and analysts find most interesting, offered with insights to explain why it matters and why you should know. See Insights ›

Economy & Trends Dynamic economic factors and market trends continually influence our industry, and Cox Automotive’s economists and analysts provide data analysis, forecasts and reports to enhance the understanding of how these factors affect the automotive marketplace. See Insights ›

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10 Key Market Trends – 2019 Spring Update 05/23/2019 Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist at Cox Automotive, provides an update on the Key Trends that, earlier in the year, were predicted to have the greatest impact on the automotive industry in 2019. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS The Economy – Economic growth has been revised slightly downward from 2.6% to 2.4% GDP due to a softer than expected year-end 2018, plus a slow start in first quarter 2019. Despite the decelerating… Read Article

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Study Finds Luxury Buyers Take Their Time, Do Parts of the Deal Online, Are More Satisfied 05/22/2019 Luxury vehicle sales in Q1 2019 rose 1% while total U.S. sales dipped 3%, in line with Cox Automotive’s expectations for the full year. Q1 sales and share of midsize and compact luxury utilities rose while luxury full-size utilities held steady. Average transaction prices were higher in all luxury utility categories. Meanwhile, sales and transaction prices for luxury cars in all categories dropped. Affordability is ranked… Read Article

Market Insights Commentary & Voices

Q1 2019 Kelley Blue Book Brand Watch: Luxury Segment 05/22/2019 Kelley Blue Book Brand Watch™ is a consumer perception survey that also weaves in consumer shopping behavior to determine how a brand or model stacks up with its segment competitors on a dozen factors key to a consumer’s buying decision. Kelley Blue Book produces quarterly Brand Watch reports for non-luxury and luxury brands. Luxury Consideration Utilities outnumbered cars on the Q1 most-considered list. Acura RDX knocked… Read Article

Market Insights Commentary & Voices

Tesla Stock Slumps but Consumer Interest and Brand Health Hold Strong 05/21/2019 Tesla’s stock price slumped to its lowest level since December 2016 Monday, falling below $200 during active trading, after another analyst issued a scathing report on the electric automaker’s problems and cut the price target for the stock after heavy Wall Street selling last week. Some worry demand for Tesla vehicles, notably the popular Model 3, is waning. That would be bad news for the brand… Read Article

Market Insights Data Point

Manheim’s Used Vehicle Value Index: How Your Dealership Can Profit from Current Opportunities – Zo Rahim, Industry Insights at Cox Automotive 05/21/2019 CBT News, May 21, 2019 -- Following Manheim’s release of the latest edition of the Used Vehicle Value Index, Zo Rahim joins CBT News to discuss current defining factors of the auto industry. As the Manager of Economics and Industry Insights at Cox Automotive, Rahim says that there is still a lot of opportunity for dealers and fixed ops to continue to see favorable profit despite changes… Read Article

News Coverage

Digital Retailing Grabs Automakers’ Attention 05/20/2019 Automotive News, May 20, 2019 -- Automakers have begun to view online retailing as an important tool that dealers should be using alongside dealership management systems and customer relationship management software. Digital vendors say automakers' interest is growing as everything from books to shoes and, increasingly, cars and trucks are being bought online. Some dealers have pushed for automakers to get more involved as consumers increasingly… Read Article

News Coverage

Auto Market Weekly Summary 05/20/2019 New auto tariffs on Europe and Japan were postponed while tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico were lifted, eliminating some uncertainty but not all. Retail sales remain weak, pointing to a softer economy, but housing and interest rates, which fell, appear less of a drag. Still, auto loan rates are high. Tariffs: New auto tariffs on Europe and Japan, which could have started… Read Article

Market Insights Smoke on Cars Economy & Trends

This Week in Car Buying: Bloated Inventories; Preparing for Memorial Day Sales Events; 2020 Subaru Ascent Priced; Loan Debt Grows 05/17/2019 Kelley Blue Book’s Senior Managing Editor Matt DeLorenzo writes This Week in Car Buying, a weekly column on KBB.com. In this week’s article, Matt observes that inventories continue to grow as slow April sales begin to cause vehicles to stack up in the pipeline. The next two weeks will see the kickoff of the summer selling season as dealers look to shake off the doldrums of soft March and April sales volumes. Good news from… Read Article

Market Insights Commentary & Voices

Cox Automotive Market Insights & Outlook Flipbook Available 05/17/2019 The Cox Automotive Economic Industry insights team's goal is to help automotive industry stakeholders make the best decisions for the future. The 2019 Cox Automotive Market Insights & Outlook flipbook makes accessing key data and insights easy. Replacing the hard copy version, this digital format allows readers to quickly find what they are looking for and can be downloaded as a PDF and easily printed. We hope you find this… Read Article

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So Close: More Uncertainty is the only Certainty in the Ongoing Auto Tariff Discussions 05/17/2019 The White House today in a statement confirmed that it will delay by up to six months any decision on Section 232 tariffs on autos and auto parts. This is exactly the route we expected, as the Trump Administration uses the threat of high tariffs as a preferred tool for leverage. How this journey ends is still unknown, but at this point, here are five points we believe… Read Article

Market Insights Smoke on Cars Economy & Trends