U.S. auto sales in June declined for the second straight month, and the retail seasonally adjusted annual rate dipped below 10 million units. No doubt that some of it was due to inventory shortages at Japanese makers, but new research shows that with an average new vehicle transaction price now above $30,000 potential customers are buying used.
About 8% of the people who bought a used vehicle in June were trying to decide between purchasing a new or used car and elected for the older one. This means that approximately 360,000 new-vehicle sales went to older vehicles, according to CNW research. That’s two final assembly plants worth, and it doesn’t include supporting component parts plants at a time when unemployment is officially more than 9%.
Franchised dealers saw used sales increase 5% versus a year ago and 10% compared to this May. Authorized dealers control more than 36% of what is projected to be a total used vehicle market of around 37 million vehicles. This is three times the size of the predicted new vehicle market in 2011. Independent used car dealers have about 33% of the market with private transactions making up the balance.
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.
