ALG, Inc., a subsidiary of TrueCar, Inc. and the industry benchmark for determining the future resale value of a vehicle, projects total new vehicle sales will reach 638,092 units in April 2020, down 54% from a year ago when adjusted for the same number of selling days. This month’s seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total light vehicle sales is an estimated 7.7 million units. Excluding fleet sales, ALG expects U.S. retail deliveries of new cars and light trucks to be 577,280units, a decrease of 49% from a year ago when adjusted for the same number of selling days.
“Like most industries in the U.S., the automotive industry has also suffered significantly from the Coronavirus pandemic,” said Eric Lyman, Chief Industry Analyst at ALG. “By the beginning of April, a majority of the states had enacted ‘shelter at home’ orders along with closures of many businesses in an effort to limit the spread of the virus. Public health concerns mixed with job losses and economic decline led to a dramatic drop in automotive sales.”
“Although most automakers saw big declines in sales, the domestic brands such as GM and Ford had a smaller percentage of loss than imported brands when compared year-over-year. Some of that is attributable to the generous incentive offerings from the domestics, and some of it is due to the higher mix of imports in the states that were initially hit hardest compared with the states that were impacted later.”
“As ‘shelter at home’ orders continue during the month of April, consumers and dealers have shifted their behavior and leaned heavily into an online approach to car buying,” added Lyman. “In TrueCar’s own research, two-thirds of shoppers say they would be more likely to shop with a dealership that offers the components of TrueCar’s Buy from Home service, which consists of vehicle sanitization, online paperwork, and vehicle delivery.”
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SOURCE: TrueCar
