
Cars sales at new record level in new year
Cars sales in new years have reached a new record, according to the official data for January 2018.
The new year brought a record-breaking 24.8 million cars sold in the US, according the US Auto Industry Association (UAA).
That’s a 3.5% increase from last year, the industry group said.
UAA is forecasting a 1.7% rise for 2018, compared with a 1% rise in 2017.
A car sale is defined as the purchase of an actual car from a manufacturer and not the sale of a service vehicle.
The US car industry is struggling with the effects of a global recession and a wave of mass retirements, which has reduced demand for vehicles.
New vehicles sales have been rising for the past two years but are still below the levels seen in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the car industry was booming.
“We are seeing a sharp reduction in car sales over the past year and a half,” said Robert Siegel, UAA’s chief economist.
That is mainly due to the introduction of new and cheaper fuel-efficient cars, the group said, which have been able to undercut the more expensive and more fuel-intensive models that previously dominated the market.
Despite the strong growth in new car sales, some analysts are expecting the US car market to contract slightly in 2018.
The industry is currently seeing a decline in car-sharing, and that could lead to a dip in sales in 2018, they said.