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U.S. new light-vehicle sales were okay in May 2021, but fell from April’s highs. May’s Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate, aka SAAR, was 17 million units. However, April’s SAAR was revised upward to 18.8 million units. May 2021’s SAAR was up 40.3% from May 2020’s, when light-vehicle sales had just begun to recover from April 2020’s pandemic lows under the previous “drink bleach” administration.
A 17 million-unit SAAR in conventional auto-exec-think would be celebrated as strong: “Even as the historic sales pace slowed slightly, this was the strongest May since 2015, and several brands celebrated their best-ever monthly volume. The annualized rate fell from 18.8 million units in April to 17.2 million units last month, in line with the SAAR registered in both 2018 at17.2 million units and 2019 at 17.4 million units,” said consultancy LMC. (April Sales Shower US Market More than 18 Million Times, US New Vehicle Sales in May Forecast as Record Setting. Global Sales are Another Matter Entirely)
But there is more going on here, AutoInformed opines, given current market conditions. While automakers and the business press have been chasing the semi-conductor shortage, many claim May’s drop in sales are the effects of a supply and demand imbalance. However, the vehicle mix of highly-equipped vehicles, plentiful low-interest-rate money, and the headlong rush into electric vehicles – priced above an average working person’s ability to carry the loan – are starting to make light vehicles un-affordable to the working and middle classes. For example Ford Motor set record electrified vehicle sales – up 184 % on F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid, Mustang Mach-E, Escape and Explorer Hybrid models Continue reading →
CARB Revives Incentives for Clean Trucks and Buses
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The California Air Resources Board (CARB*) and CALSTART reopened the admired Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP**) today to new voucher requests. The 2021 reopening makes available $165 million to California-based businesses that want to transform their fleets with new, zero-emission and near-zero-emission clean vehicles. With an HVIP voucher, industry-leading vehicles can be as affordable as their traditional fossil-fueled counterparts, allowing purchasers of all sizes to deploy advanced technologies that help fleets achieve reductions in emissions and air pollution to support the state’s climate goals and improve air quality in the most impacted communities.
This year HVIP will be fulfilled in waves, allowing the opportunity for more fleets to participate, especially smaller fleets CARB said. Half of the funds will be released immediately. Remaining funds will be made available two months later, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday 10 August 2021. Class 8 trucks performing drayage operations, as well as vehicles purchased by public agencies are exempt from this pause. Continue reading →