All of a sudden, everyone’s buying new cars
Car makers have reported their May sales figures, and the news is surprisingly good. Sales are at a seven year high.
Even high-end dealers are celebrating.
“Both BMW and Audi were up quite a bit this year verses last year,” says George Liang, president of DCH Auto Group.
Kelley Blue Book says car sales nationwide were up about 11 percent over May of last year, for all kinds of reasons. For one, dealers advertised big Memorial Day sales. With home-grown talent:
Car buyers were also lured into showrooms by easier credit.
“Lenders have opened up their books to those with less-than-perfect credit,” says Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Alec Gutierrez.
There’s also a lot of pent up demand for cars. The average U.S. car is 11-years-old. Car-crazy consumers even flocked to GM showrooms, in spite of its recall troubles.
GM sales were up 13 percent over May 2013, with most models selling well.
“Pickups and big sport utilities, but now it’s started to feed through to their car lines,” says George Magliano, a senior economist with IHS Automotive.
Even Mother Nature smiled on the auto industry. In some parts of the country, every weekend in May was sunny. Perfect car buying weather.
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