Auto Sales Up
By Nate Lorenzini posted on Tuesday, September 1, 2009 @ 2:43 PM - (General)
In the month of August, auto sales were up thanks to the U.S. government Cash for Clunkers program. Ford reported increases in August with U.S. sales up 17.2 percent from last year. The Ford Focus and the Escape were Ford’s top selling cars with increases of 56 percent for the Focus and 49 percent for the Escape.
Hyundai also lead the pack with increased automobile sales in August. Since the beginning of the year, Hyundai has been aggressively marketing to fearful buyers. In fact, Hyundai was one of the first car makers to offer a payment protection plan to customers who lost their jobs after buying a new car.
According to Stephen Spivey, senior auto industry analyst with Frost & Sullivan, “…about 700,000 vehicles sold through Cash for Clunkers and of those, he estimates that half would have been purchased without the program. The others might have been thinking about buying a car later in the year but sped up their schedule.” To read more about this article visit ABC News.
The graph below from the Wall Street Journal illusstrates the recent increase in U.S. automobile sales:
J.D. Power and Associates, a leading automotive research company, actually predicted the boost in auto sales for August. Gary Dilts, J.D. Power’s senior vice president of global automotive operations, commented by saying that “Improved consumer confidence and credit availability during the past six months have combined with the CARS program to lift industry sales out of their slumping year-to-date levels, which have been down approximately 35 percent year-over-year. These factors set the foundation for a gradual recovery in the months ahead.”
I actually just purchased a new vehicle through this Cash for Clunkers program. I definitely would not have considered if without this stimulus program. Although I had to wait 2 weeks to take delivery due to the paperwork backlog, it was well worth the wait. I just hope this program hasn't siphoned out the next year's worth of potential sales all at once and the sales figures go into a slump again.
