Auto Sales Are the Highest in 4 Years

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Auto Sales Are the Highest in 4 Years

By BILL VLASIC

DETROIT — Unemployment is still high and the so-called fiscal cliff is looming, but those worries didn’t slow down the nation’s car and truck buyers in September.

Autos flew off the lot at the highest sales rate in four years, adjusted for seasonal variations, according to the research firm Autodata.

Over all, a total of 1.19 million cars, trucks and S.U.V.’s were sold in the United States during the month — a 13 percent increase from a year ago.

Japanese and German manufacturers led the sales boom, offsetting weaker results at General Motors and Ford.

The monthly sales rate equaled about 14.9 million vehicles on an annualized basis, and it was the highest seasonally adjusted rate since February 2008, according to Autodata.

Analysts said the robust pace was fed by consumers replacing older vehicles, the wide variety of new fuel-efficient models on the market and the greater availability of credit at low interest rates.

“The industry is continuing its comeback the old-fashioned way: with new products, better inventory management and historically cheap loans,” said Jesse Toprak, an analyst with the auto research Web site TrueCar.com.

Overall industry sales are up 14.5 percent through the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period in 2011.

Many of the gains in September came at Toyota and Honda, the two big Japanese manufacturers that suffered major product shortages after last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

“We all underestimated the strength of the Toyota and Honda brands and their customer loyalty,” Mr. Toprak said. “They have not only gained back their market share, but increased it.”

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