{"id":143916,"date":"2020-02-27T09:31:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T14:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=143916"},"modified":"2020-02-27T09:48:40","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T14:48:40","slug":"u-s-new-vehicle-sales-holding-their-own-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2020\/02\/u-s-new-vehicle-sales-holding-their-own-in-february\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. New Vehicle Sales Holding Their Own in February"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The 2020 Hyundai Palisade is emblematic of the transformation of the automaker’s product portfolio in recent years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TrueCar, online car-shopping platform and its data and analytics subsidiary,\u00a0ALG,\u00a0are predicting mild winter weather will boost sales of new vehicles 0.2% during February from a year ago when adjusted for the same number of selling days.<\/p>\n

After a slow start in January, February\u2019s monthly, seasonally adjusted annualized rate for total light vehicle sales is an estimated 17.1 million units. Excluding fleet sales, ALG expects U.S. retail deliveries of new cars and light trucks to increase 1.2% from a year ago when adjusted for the same number of selling days.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough consumer confidence is stable and economic fundamentals remain strong, consumers are still receiving a lot of mixed messages about the economy,\u201d said\u00a0Eric Lyman, Chief Industry analyst at ALG, in a release.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Global auto sales expected to fall 2.5% this year as coronavirus spreads.)<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re in an election year, the coronavirus is starting to have a global impact and that we\u2019re beyond the normal cycle for a recession all combine to create a sense of uncertainty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kia has been playing catch-up in the SUV market but scored big with the introduction of the all-new Telluride, its biggest ute ever.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toyota, Nissan and Volkswagen have joined Detroit\u2019s automakers in pulling back from reporting monthly sales number so the actual numbers reported by manufacturers will be relatively thin, but the group was able to make some educated guesses.<\/p>\n

Kia and Hyundai have come a long way with their product portfolios. Once known as a seller of \u201cvalue-driven\u201d cars, the sibling automakers have progressed in the mainstream space with their upscale SUVs, the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride.<\/p>\n

Kia and Hyundai are continuing their momentum with increased sales this month. Kia is up 14.3% and Hyundai is up 11.6% respectively year-over-year for total sales, according to TrueCar\u2019s estimates.<\/p>\n

Subaru has made big strides in the past four years with a measured approach to production that ensured production matched demand. It has also benefited from consumer demand moving towards the styling and functionality that its products historically provide.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 2020 Subaru Outback kept the automaker’s consistent sales increases chugging along.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(China\u2019s coronavirus crisis could cripple car production in the U.S.)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Japanese automaker\u2019s sales are up 3.3% year-over-year for total sales, likely due to the increased inventory to match elevated consumer demand, especially for its popular Outback and Forester SUVs.<\/p>\n

In the luxury segment, Volvo has proven itself as a prominent player during the past four years. With a cohesive line-up of premium, design forward vehicles, Volvo is back at the top of the consideration list for luxury brand consumers.<\/p>\n

BMW\u2019s continues its 12-month positive sales streak and is expected to be up 9.3% year-over-year in total sales and up 6.5% on retail sales with incentives down by 2.2%.<\/p>\n

Ford, Nissan and GM are expected to drop 6.7%, 14.4% and 1.8%, respectively, in total unit sales compared with a year ago. All three manufacturers are down on fleet unit sales year-over-year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The BMW X6 M50i carries the \u201cfour-door coupe\u201d style that\u2019s very popular among SUV enthusiasts, helping drive the luxury brand’s sales in 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, used vehicle sales for\u00a0February 2020\u00a0are expected to reach 3,699,048, up 6% from a year ago and up 12% from\u00a0January 2020. The average interest rates on new vehicle loans is 6.21%, based on TrueCar data.<\/p>\n

(January new vehicle sales decidedly on the cool side.)<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLow interest rates on vehicle auto loans and mild winter weather thus far are contributing to a healthy sales month,\u201d said Nick Woolard, Director of OEM and Affinity Partner Analytics at TrueCar. \u201cWe continue to see growth driven by new products, especially in the utility and crossover segments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mild winter weather will boost sales of new vehicles 0.2% during February from a year ago when adjusted for the same number of selling days, according to auto sales website TrueCar and its subsidiary ALG. Hyundai and Kia are helping lead the way. Check out the story at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20009,"featured_media":138270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,150,151,123,133,131,132,129,283,124,139,148,128,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143916"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=143916"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=143916"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=143916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}