American Car Sales Hit 15.3 Million Units Annually

[Jordan]

Sales were up over 13% in 2012, and auto sales have been a key contributor to the economy over the last three years. Sales will probably increase in 2013, but not at a double digit rate.

Read more at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/20...YtJYP87BVWX.99

December numbers look great! Car sales coming in at a run rate of 15.3 million per year on a seasonally adjusted rate. Hopefully all those automotive bears out there have a good excuse for this one.

[anaconda]

Hopefully all those automotive bears out there have a good excuse for this one.

Federal Reserve financial bubble is keeping spending afloat, but heading us towards a devastating crash.

[oyarde]

Autos make sense for people with secure jobs , they still need to get there every day . I would look for that amount of people to start to decline again .

[rockerrockstar]

It is good for me since I work for one of the Big Three as a contractor engineer. I believe there is a lot of demand do to people holding off buying for so long because of the depression. Now that the economy is recovering people want to replace their old vehicles.

[oyarde]

There will be no recovery, that I am seeing . Employment numbers suck and will for the future .

[alucard13mmfmj]

who are buying these cars? the chinese? the chinese love european and american cars.

[cbc58]

govt's upgrading fleets, people buying with zero down, finance everything. probably a tax loophole that says that if you buy a new car you get XX deduction. that's how they pushed the big suv's before. auto lobby is powerful.

[tod evans]

govt's upgrading fleets,

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[VBRonPaulFan]

define 'light vehicle sales'. are we talking about all sedan based cars sold in the US? only sedan based cars made by US manufacturers, etc?

i recently bought a new car for my wife, a Hyundai Elantra. with interest rates being so stupidly low for new car loans, it was only like an extra $150/month on the payment to get a 22k new car w/ full warranty instead of a 10k used car. if nothing else, the ridiculously low interest rates are spurring this because you can get a LOT of car for a really low payment right now. my interest rate is only 1.75% on a 5 year loan.

[cbc58]

define 'light vehicle sales'. are we talking about all sedan based cars sold in the US? only sedan based cars made by US manufacturers, etc?

i recently bought a new car for my wife, a Hyundai Elantra. with interest rates being so stupidly low for new car loans, it was only like an extra $150/month on the payment to get a 22k new car w/ full warranty instead of a 10k used car. if nothing else, the ridiculously low interest rates are spurring this because you can get a LOT of car for a really low payment right now. i think my interest rate is only 3.5% or 3.75% on a 5 year loan.

this. people are buying a payment to get a new car. drive it off the lot and it depreciates 25%. if you have money to burn - not a bad deal.