(Bloomberg) -- U.S. auto sales may slip into negative territory for the year, as plunging demand for passenger cars and costlier loans wipe out a stronger-than-expected start to 2018.
- Click here for Bloomberg's monthly survey of analysts.
Key Insights
- Sales probably slowed to an annualized rate of about 17.3 million in October, compared with 17.9 million a year earlier, with analysts expecting Nissan, General Motors and Ford to lead declines among the biggest automakers.
- A market that was cruising in the first half of the year on strong demand for sport utility vehicles including Fiat Chrysler's Jeep Cherokee has succumbed to interest-rate hikes, making it more expensive for consumers to finance new-car purchases.
- Even if you've got fresh metal to sell, Americans aren't interested in sedans: Demand for Toyota's Camry and Honda's Accord are down, despite recent redesigns and Detroit's pullback from car segments.
Get More
- Carmakers sold roughly 21,000 more vehicles through the first nine months of the year than a year earlier, according to the researcher Autodata, so it won't take much of a drop in October for the industry to be in decline for the year.
- Analysts expect that Ford probably rode big fleet sales of F-Series trucks and Transit vans back into the No. 3 position in the U.S. market, after Fiat Chrysler crept ahead in September.
- Still, Ford has another company hot on its heels: Its Lincoln luxury brand is holding a slim lead through the first nine months over Volvo, the Swedish carmaker it sold to China's Geely in 2010.
--With assistance from John Lippert.
To contact the reporters on this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan at knaughton3@bloomberg.net;Gabrielle Coppola in New York at gcoppola@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Melinda Grenier
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
