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Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 01:03 PM Jun 2014

May Car Sales Return To Pre-Recession Levels

Source: WWJ / CBS

DETROIT (WWJ) - Good weather and a strong Memorial Day weekend helped car buyers ignore reports of recalls, pushing car and truck sales up more than ten percent in May.

“I’m totally flabbergasted,” said George Magliano, senior auto economist at IHS Automotive. “They’ve beat my expectations, but I was conservative. They’ve beat everybody’s. That’s the way it’s shaping up.”

The SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Sales Rate) is expected to come in between 16.5 and 17 million, returning the industry to rates that were seen before the recession.

“Auto sales for the month of May seemed almost to defy logic,” said Kelley Blue Book analyst Jack Nerad. “In a month that included dismal consumer confidence scores and the announcement that the American economy as a whole had actually contracted in the first quarter, auto sales were very robust. General Motors’ sales results epitomized that trend of defying logic. GM announced a near-record number of recalls during May, yet it turned in its best monthly sales since August 2008, the last month before the financial meltdown that triggered the Great Recession.”

Read more: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/06/03/may-car-sales-head-back-to-pre-recession-levels/

8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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May Car Sales Return To Pre-Recession Levels (Original Post) Purveyor Jun 2014 OP
IF you can't buy the BIG 3 Omaha Steve Jun 2014 #1
We here in Michigan thank you for that! Purveyor Jun 2014 #3
That’s amazing donco Jun 2014 #2
Actually it's not amazing Morganfleeman Jun 2014 #8
I did my share :) NEOhiodemocrat Jun 2014 #4
likewise. We added a CMax Energi whatthehey Jun 2014 #5
Another doing her part! BumRushDaShow Jun 2014 #6
My new Ford hails from Chicago voteearlyvoteoften Jun 2014 #7

Omaha Steve

(99,070 posts)
1. IF you can't buy the BIG 3
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 01:07 PM
Jun 2014

At least buy a car built in the USA. Jobs, jobs, jobs.

Even with my recalled Chevy Cobalt, we are sticking to the BIG 3.

OS

Morganfleeman

(117 posts)
8. Actually it's not amazing
Wed Jun 4, 2014, 02:32 AM
Jun 2014

Given that subprime auto loans are driving auto sales. A third of auto loans sold to investors now are subprime. That percentage is nearly double what it was 5 years ago. GM just issued 1.4 billion in subprime auto debt. This kind if growth is not sustainably given that loans to poor credit are such a sizeable portion of today's originations. We've seen this movie before with housing. Same problem, but different asset class.

NEOhiodemocrat

(912 posts)
4. I did my share :)
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 05:03 PM
Jun 2014

Newest car our family owned was a 2009 Cobalt, which was recalled, but it is actually our daughter's and she is graduating in December with her masters so thought it was time to get our-self a new car for me before she drives off in hers! Luckily for us she lives inner city so hasn't had to use it (hence me taking it over). So now we are the owners of a 2014 GM Equinox, which I love! I wouldn't buy anything but an American car, my husband and three brothers are all retired from GM...have to contribute to those retirement checks.

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