Deals, low gas prices drive up U.S. auto sales
DETROIT — American shoppers passed on the malls and headed to the car dealerships over Thanksgiving weekend.
Black Friday promotions — coupled with falling gas prices, low-interest loans and hot new vehicles — drove U.S. auto sales higher in November, kicking off what’s expected to be a strong holiday season.
Subaru and Chrysler led the major automakers in sales gains. Both saw sales increase around 20 percent on strong demand for their small SUVs. It was Subaru’s best November ever and Chrysler’s best November in 13 years.
General Motors, Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen also reported gains. Ford, Hyundai and Nissan reported declines.
According to the National Retail Federation survey of 4,000 shoppers, sales were down 11 percent to $50.9 billion over the four-day holiday compared to a year ago. A move by retailers to discount merchandise in the days and weeks before Thanksgiving appeared to cut down on store traffic over the holiday weekend.
But that wasn’t the case with cars. Car buying site Kelley Blue Book estimated that 25 percent to 30 percent of November’s new vehicle sales happened over the holiday thanks to a flurry of Black Friday promotions. Because the holiday came late in the month, buyers also benefited from dealers’ usual month-end sales push.
The TrueCar.com auto pricing site predicts total November U.S. sales will reach 1.3 million, up around 4 percent from a year ago.
Sales are on track to end the year at around 16.5 million, said Jesse Toprak, a senior analyst with Cars.com. That’s up 6 percent from 2013.
In November, buyers looking for really good deals could still find outgoing 2014 models, while others snapped up 2015 models that are just arriving in dealerships, like the new Ford Mustang.
The sales were fueled by deals, like zero-percent financing on new Chevrolets and a $3,500 credit on a new BMW. But automakers still made healthy profits as buyers loaded their vehicles with extras like navigation. As of mid-November, buyers were spending an average of $30,874 per vehicle, or $165 more than the previous record of $30,709 in October, according to consulting firms.
