Solid Start for 2011 for American Auto Industry

Friday, 11 February 2011 18:10

Written by Julius

Even with high unemployment all over the country, consumers visited auto retailers and bought with them new cars and trucks. This led to increased sales of cars and light trucks to an estimated 819,895 for the month of January, which registers a 17% jump over the same month from 2010. Analysts believe that the sales are driven by the vehicle owners’ needs to replace their old machines. While there was an improvement as well as signs of better consumer confidence, the sales figure is still way below the one million vehicles sold in January of 2008.

While the nation’s economy showed improvement, the figure clearly shows that the auto industry as a whole is still in a fragile state. Even so, most of the well established car companies reported double-digit boosts in their sales for the month. GM (General Motors) reported that car sales to individuals (who contributed to the strong January sales a lot) jumped by 36%. Consumers flocked to the shops to buy new vehicles and among the models that sold well were the Ford Explorer (among SUVs/sports utility vehicles) and the Honda Fit (among small cars) to name a few.

At this stage, analysts believe that the auto industry as a whole can sell about 13 million vehicles by the end of the year and that January’s sales are a good indication. Skeptics however think that the high unemployment and high price of gasoline will however weaken sales in the months to come and prevent the industry from reaching the 13 million mark.