Credit is, finally, slowly loosening for buyers with sub-prime credit rating scores of less than 670.
Both the number of people shopping for a new vehicle and the number who actually buy one are up during early February based on early reports from car dealers. This could mean monthly vehicle sales in the 920,000 – 950,000 range, according the CNW Research, an industry consultancy.
Even the lower projected number – plus 17% compared to an admittedly weak February 2010 – is a welcome warming in the slowly recovering but still icy U.S. market.
However, CNW is sticking with a 12.5-12.6 million vehicle sales year, at the lower end of industry estimates, and far off the 16 to 17 million unit rates that prevailed for most years of the last decade before the housing bubble collapsed, taking the financial markets with it.
Credit is, finally, slowly loosening for buyers with sub-prime credit rating scores of less than 670. Both auto company finance arms and major banks are helping the thaw.
CNW says that there is a 60% improvement in Sub-Prime approvals in the opening days of February compared to a year ago. Here caution is urged. The increase is based on small numbers from a year ago and the total remains well below historical sub prime financing rates.
Economy cars, entry-level SUVs and entry-level CUVs all had minor gains versus a year ago. But more significantly, was a continuation of the year-over-year improvement for full-size pickup trucks — up a full percentage point compared to January 2010. This bodes well for the truck dependent Detroit Three.
CNW’s various surveys indicate that most of these increases can be attributed to the contractor and farmer segments of the pickup market.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
