U.S. new-car sales showed improvement in the first half of September as the recovering inventory of cars helped bring buyers back into the market, research firm J.D. Power and Associates said today.
The sales rate for September on an annual basis looks set to reach 12.9 million vehicles, compared with the 12.1 million rate in August, according to J.D. Power, which collects data from 8,900 U.S. dealers. The sales rate in September 2010 was 11.7 million vehicles.
Excluding fleet sales, J.D. Power said September new-vehicle retail sales are projected to come in at 842,400 units, which represents a sales rate of 10.3 million units.
After weaker-than-expected demand in May and June, overall vehicle sales in July and August finished better than expected, each topping the 12 million annual sales rate.
Japanese automakers have been increasing their inventory of cars after suffering from a shortage of parts caused by the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Nevertheless, analysts and industry observers worry about the prospects for a double-dip recession and whether automakers may be forced to boost retail incentives to keep buyers coming to dealer showrooms.
"Coming off a solid Labor Day sale, retail sales exhibited unexpected strength in the second week of September as the recovering inventory levels have helped to bring buyers back into the market," Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power, said in a statement.
"However, incentive levels remain flat compared with August and the economy remains a concern, so the sales pace in the second half of the month is expected to give back some of the gains," he added.
For the year, J.D. Power expects U.S. sales to finish at 12.6 million vehicles, which would be a 9 percent increase from 2010. For 2012, it sees sales of 14.1 million vehicles, but said a high level of uncertainty remains.
Americans filed fewer new claims for jobless benefits last week, but the decline was not enough to dispel worries that the economy is dangerously close to falling into a new recession.
The sales rate for September on an annual basis looks set to reach 12.9 million vehicles, compared with the 12.1 million rate in August, according to J.D. Power, which collects data from 8,900 U.S. dealers. The sales rate in September 2010 was 11.7 million vehicles.
Excluding fleet sales, J.D. Power said September new-vehicle retail sales are projected to come in at 842,400 units, which represents a sales rate of 10.3 million units.
After weaker-than-expected demand in May and June, overall vehicle sales in July and August finished better than expected, each topping the 12 million annual sales rate.
Japanese automakers have been increasing their inventory of cars after suffering from a shortage of parts caused by the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Nevertheless, analysts and industry observers worry about the prospects for a double-dip recession and whether automakers may be forced to boost retail incentives to keep buyers coming to dealer showrooms.
"Coming off a solid Labor Day sale, retail sales exhibited unexpected strength in the second week of September as the recovering inventory levels have helped to bring buyers back into the market," Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power, said in a statement.
"However, incentive levels remain flat compared with August and the economy remains a concern, so the sales pace in the second half of the month is expected to give back some of the gains," he added.
For the year, J.D. Power expects U.S. sales to finish at 12.6 million vehicles, which would be a 9 percent increase from 2010. For 2012, it sees sales of 14.1 million vehicles, but said a high level of uncertainty remains.
Americans filed fewer new claims for jobless benefits last week, but the decline was not enough to dispel worries that the economy is dangerously close to falling into a new recession.
No comments:
Post a Comment