New light vehicle sales in the U.S.
2011 12.7 million*
2010 11.5 million
2009 10.4 million
2008 13.2 million
2007 16.09 million
*Projected
Source: WardsAuto Group
Local auto dealers are seeing a similar surge in car sales that spiked across the nation in November.
Companies like Chrysler, Ford and Nissan saw double-digit increases from last November, which is typically a uninspiring sales month due to colder weather and holiday diversions, dealers said.
There’s also been a double-digit surge in year-to-date sales as of November, according to statistics released this month by Autodata Corp.
Some say the increase in sales is another sign the economy is improving.
“I’ve been here over 20 years and we seem to go into these recessions first in Ohio and we seem to come out first so I think there were issues here before it is nationally ... so hopefully we’re starting to come out. Because as Ford, GM and Chrysler can manufacture more vehicles, there are a lot of Tier 2 and 3 suppliers in this area that it helps their business and helps bring the economy back,” said Roosevelt Robinson, president of Middletown Ford.
With people replacing the vehicles they held on to during the economic downturn, Ford Motor Co.’s sales rose 13.3 percent compared to last November and 11 percent in year-to-date sales. Part of that surge was fueled by the new Explorer SUV, a Top 20 car in November sales with more than triple what it sold last November. Sales of the Escape were also strong.
Opsie and William Banks of Trenton, who last bought a new car from a dealership in 1998, recently stopped by Middletown Ford, “fell in love” with a red 2012 Ford Escape and made a downpayment the same day.
“The reason for not buying one in the past years was the money situation,” Opsie Banks said. “We just feel thankful that we were able to purchase it and get the rebates and could afford to spend the money right now. ”
At Middletown Ford, the Escape is doing a brisk business, along with the Fusion, Focus and the F-150, the top seller at the dealership and nationwide for November, according to Robinson
National sales figures leaped 16.7 percent for Ford in year-to-date sales, according to motorintelligence.com.
“Probably, apples to apples it (local sales) would be comparable,” Robinson said. “We actually added a government fleet sales part of the company, so that additional business really has increased our raw sales.”
General Motors Co. saw consumers buy more small cars and pickup trucks, boosting year-to-date sales by 14.2 percent and November sales totals by 7 percent.
The biggest selling truck at Fiehrer Motors in Hamilton is the GMC Sierra pickup truck, which snagged a spot on the Top 20 for November car sales nationwide.
Sales percent increase for year-to-date totals are at 15 percent, slightly more than national totals, according to Dan Fiehrer, the dealership’s vice president.
November sales totals are up 9 to 10 percent compared to November 2010, better than the national average but a down month for Fiehrer sales, he said.
Many people are holding on to their vehicles well beyond 100,000 miles instead of trading them in at 70,000 to 80,000 miles, Fiehrer said.
“We’re taking in trades with a lot more miles on them than before,” he said. “People are definitely holding onto their vehicles longer.
“Now, it’s getting to the point where people are forced to buy something not new, but newer than what they have.”
While things do seem to be getting better, many people who lost their jobs in the past three years went through foreclosures and damaged their credit before returning to the workforce.
“Now they’re coming back in and they have consistent work and paychecks but it’s still difficult because their downpayments aren’t what they were. Sometimes, depending on their credit, they might have to pay a little higher rate compared to spotless rate.”
“We’ve definitely seen a lot more credit-challenged people.”
Chrysler Group LLC raised its incentives to nearly $3,300 per vehicle, up 6 percent from October, and saw November sales jump 44.5 percent from a year earlier and year-to-date sales rise by 10.8 percent.
Year-to-date sales of Light vehicle sales nationwide through the end of last month were 11.53 million, up 10.4 percent from the end of November 2010, according to Autodata Corp.
Thanks to a robust November, which saw sales increase by 14 percent compared to November 2010, new vehicle sales in the United States are projected to reach about 12.7 million this year, the largest amount sold since 2008, according to industry estimates.
The pace of sales last month was greater than any month since the “cash for clunkers” program, which gave consumers an incentive to trade-in their old vehicles and buy ones, analysts said.
The spike in activity comes after months of sputtering sales.
“Consumers are just starting to say ‘it’s time to start spending money again,’ “ said Larry Dominique, executive vice president of data for the TrueCar.com automotive website.
Attractive leases also spurred sales. Dealers offered good terms because low interest rates and high used-car values make leased vehicles worth more when they’re returned.
Ohio’s auto market is also on the road to recovery. There were 434,990 new-vehicle registrations in Ohio in 2010, up 9.5 percent from 2009, according to the most recent data from the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Still, new-vehicle registrations fell short of 2008, when owners registered 487,357 cars and trucks, the association said.
Not only are buyers buying more, they’re paying more. Thomas King, a senior director with auto industry information services company J.D. Power & Associates, said the average new car selling price in 2006 was $26,000. Today, it’s nearly $28,000, he said – a result of the industry’s transition to a lower-volume, higher-price business model.
A good sign of that is that customers are more impulse-driven, said J.R. Roberts, sales manager at Middletown Ford.
“In the past, people would come in and say “We’re just looking” but we don’t hear that quite as much anymore,” Roberts said. “Now our guys, if they demo the vehicle right and they show them all the features and benefits, they (customers) are astounded by what the car can do, like parking itself and doing the hands-free calling.”
Staff writers Cornelius Frolik and Thomas Gnau contributed to this article, as did the Associated Press.
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