As total new-vehicle retail sales in the United States are projected to reach 6.5 million for the first half of 2014, consumers are paying record prices for new vehicles. This is a 6% increase over the first half of 2013, even though extreme weather negatively affected sales during the beginning of the calendar year. However, spring has brought a succession of record-setting months. Sales have increased on a year-over-year basis for each of the first six months of 2014 on a selling-day adjusted basis.
Transaction prices for the first six months of 2014 are at record levels, averaging $29,630, an increase from $28,880 a year ago. Consumer expenditures on new vehicles through the first half of the year also are at a record high of $194 billion, a $14 billion dollar increase from the same period in 2013.
Automakers and lenders are supporting higher prices by providing longer loan term options. Loans with term of at least 72 months now account for 31.8% of retail sales in the first half of 2104, up from 30.2% in 2013. Whether this is another bubble in the making remains to be seen.
Leasing is also increasing, now accounting for 26% of retail sales, compared with 23.8% for the first half of 2013.
Total sales – including sales to fleet buyers – through the first half of 2014 are expected to reach 8.1 million, a 4% increase compared to the same period in 2013, based on a sales forecast developed jointly by J.D. Power and LMC Automotive.
“Looking forward, we expect that strong sales momentum to carry into the second half of the year,” says Thomas King of Power.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, 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.
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 during a downshift 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.
