US Auto Sales Up in June
Published at
KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — June was a positive month for the auto industry as more Americans bought new cars and trucks.
Four years after the U.S. car industry almost collapsed, Ford, GM and Chrysler are back, all reporting solid gains. Sales were up in June, compared to a year ago.
One big reason for the improvement could be pent-up demand.
“Many people are driving ten-plus year-old cars, so the average age of a car on the road right now is about the highest it’s ever been in recorded, since they’ve been tracking this,” explained Karl Brower of Kelly Blue Book.
Growing at the fastest pace since the economy slowed down, Ford’s sales rose last month by 13 percent, while Chrysler sales were up by 8 percent, both motored by huge truck sales. Ford saw a nearly 20 percent uptick in truck sales last month, and Chrysler sold 23 percent more Ram trucks than a year ago.
Michelle Krebs, a Senior Analyst with Edmunds.com, says there’s a reason trucks are leading the car comeback.
“Pickup truck sales increase when construction and housing starts increase because you have all of those people who are working in the construction trades that need their vehicles, their trucks, to get to work and to do their work,” she said.
Krebs added that small cars from Detroit are red hot, too, with empty nesters and baby boomers downsizing to smaller vehicles that are higher in fuel efficiency. Additionally, millenials are finally getting back into the market.
Good financing options and low interest rates have also helped to fuel the auto sales race, according to Krebs, who expects car sales to continue to grow.
“This is another strong year. We’re expecting car sales by the end of the year to be 15.5 million vehicles and we haven’t seen that number in a long time,” she said.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio