American Car Sales Hit 15.3 Million Units Annually

[Jordan]

Sales were up over 13% in 2012, and auto sales have been a key contributor to the economy over the last three years. Sales will probably increase in 2013, but not at a double digit rate.

Read more at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2...sales-at-153-million.html#KmedrYtJYP87BVWX.99

December numbers look great! Car sales coming in at a run rate of 15.3 million per year on a seasonally adjusted rate. Hopefully all those automotive bears out there have a good excuse for this one.

 

[anaconda]

Hopefully all those automotive bears out there have a good excuse for this one.

Federal Reserve financial bubble is keeping spending afloat, but heading us towards a devastating crash.

 

[oyarde]

Autos make sense for people with secure jobs , they still need to get there every day . I would look for that amount of people to start to decline again .

 

[rockerrockstar]

re

It is good for me since I work for one of the Big Three as a contractor engineer. I believe there is a lot of demand do to people holding off buying for so long because of the depression. Now that the economy is recovering people want to replace their old vehicles.

 

[oyarde]

There will be no recovery, that I am seeing . Employment numbers suck and will for the future .

 

[alucard13mmfmj]

who are buying these cars? the chinese? the chinese love european and american cars.

 

[cbc58]

govt's upgrading fleets, people buying with zero down, finance everything. probably a tax loophole that says that if you buy a new car you get XX deduction. that's how they pushed the big suv's before. auto lobby is powerful.

 

[tod evans]

govt's upgrading fleets,

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[VBRonPaulFan]

define 'light vehicle sales'. are we talking about all sedan based cars sold in the US? only sedan based cars made by US manufacturers, etc?

i recently bought a new car for my wife, a Hyundai Elantra. with interest rates being so stupidly low for new car loans, it was only like an extra $150/month on the payment to get a 22k new car w/ full warranty instead of a 10k used car. if nothing else, the ridiculously low interest rates are spurring this because you can get a LOT of car for a really low payment right now. my interest rate is only 1.75% on a 5 year loan.

 

[cbc58]

define 'light vehicle sales'. are we talking about all sedan based cars sold in the US? only sedan based cars made by US manufacturers, etc?

i recently bought a new car for my wife, a Hyundai Elantra. with interest rates being so stupidly low for new car loans, it was only like an extra $150/month on the payment to get a 22k new car w/ full warranty instead of a 10k used car. if nothing else, the ridiculously low interest rates are spurring this because you can get a LOT of car for a really low payment right now. i think my interest rate is only 3.5% or 3.75% on a 5 year loan.

this. people are buying a payment to get a new car. drive it off the lot and it depreciates 25%. if you have money to burn - not a bad deal.

 

[VBRonPaulFan]

this. people are buying a payment to get a new car. drive it off the lot and it depreciates 25%. if you have money to burn - not a bad deal.

yeah, in our case we'll keep this car for a very long time... probably at least 10 years. it just made more sense to get a new car with a manufacturer warranty for a little bit higher payment than to buy a 4 year old used car as-is. i think a lot of people are taking that route simply because the rates are so low and the credit is pretty easy to get.

 

[Zippyjuan]

One reason for the recent boost in car sales was that people had been putting off replacing their cars - they got tired of waiting and found low interest rates and dealer incentives so they finally took the plunge. But this "pent up demand" is a rolling number. It could continue now that people are out looking again.

 

[madengr]

There will be no recovery, that I am seeing . Employment numbers suck and will for the future .

I agree, welcome to the new economy. Corporations are doing just fine working their people harder with reduced benefits and pay, and increasing automation and worker efficiency. Those jobs (specific jobs) are not coming back.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/03/news/economy/record-corporate-profits/index.html

Just four years after the worst shock to the economy since the Great Depression, U.S. corporate profits are stronger than ever.
In the third quarter, corporate earnings were $1.75 trillion, up 18.6% from a year ago, according to last week'si gross domestic product report. That took after-tax profits to their greatest percentage of GDP in history.....

 

[libertariantexas]

who are buying these cars? the chinese? the chinese love european and american cars.

I'm pretty sure this is for sales in the US, from all manufacturers, American and domestic- for light vehicles (cars, light trucks, vans, SUVs).

 

[torchbearer]

One reason for the recent boost in car sales was that people had been putting off replacing their cars - they got tired of waiting and found low interest rates and dealer incentives so they finally took the plunge. But this "pent up demand" is a rolling number. It could continue now that people are out looking again.

care to guess how many of those car purchases on done against future purchases... ie, via debt?