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Analysts estimate another positive month of car sales
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Two local auto dealers have had a very busy December, and once again, the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze is their top seller.
“I think this has been a more consistent and solid sales month,” said Greg Greenwood of Greenwood Chevrolet.
Analysts from TrueCar, Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds all estimate another month of sales growth for the auto industry in December. TrueCar estimates December auto sales will rise 11 percent year over year. KBB projects new-vehicle sales will increase 9.8 percent year over year to a total of 1.49 million units in December. Lastly, Edmunds predicts an increase of 11.4 percent year over year.
“While some vehicle sales may have been pulled forward during the start of holiday shopping in November, December sales remain strong with nearly double-digit growth expected for the industry,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst for KBB. “December is typically one of the biggest months of the year for new-car sales, as many dealers and automakers try to surpass annual sales targets.”
Analysts attribute the growth this year in auto sales to many factors including low gas prices, economic growth and consumers’ appetite to shop.
Sales for the year are expected to total about 16,470,000 units, which is an increase of 5.8 percent from last year, according to KBB.
TrueCar has total sales for the year at 16.5 million cars and trucks sold for an increase of 5.8 percent from last year. Edmunds has 2014 U.S. sales at 16.5 million and spending on new cars reaching $100 billion in 2014 compared to $90.8 billion in 2013.
Edmunds estimates GM sales will increase 13.9 percent from last December with 262,191 vehicles expected to be sold.
KBB expects GM sales to increase by 6.9 percent year over year with about 246,000 sold this December.
The top vehicles at both Greenwood Chevrolet in Austintown and Spitzer Chevrolet in North Jackson are the Cruze, Silverado and Equinox.
Greenwood said the Malibu and the Traverse also are popular.
“The hot seller, as always, was the Cruze,” said David Sabolsky, general sales manager at Spitzer.
Sabolsky’s business really heats up the day after Christmas. The dealership will be open extra hours to help customers looking for year-end deals.
Both Sabolsky and Greenwood were happy to hear TrueCar’s anticipated sales figure for 2015 at 17 million vehicles. With low interest rates and gas prices, as well as a strong economy, Greenwood said “there is no reason for car sales not to be really good next year.”
Outside of GM, Chrysler Group is also expected to see an increase in sales. Edmunds estimates the automaker’s sales will increase 24.6 percent. KBB estimates Chrysler will increase 20.5 percent.
Toyota is also expected to see an increase. Edmunds predicts the automaker will increase sales this month by 15.1 percent. KBB shows the automaker with a year-over-year increase of 11.1 percent.
Ford is expected to have a year-over-year increase of 3.8 percent from Edmunds and a 3.9 percent increase from KBB.