Six Year High

The robust recovery of the US auto industry that analysts have been charting as a comeback from the chasm of 2009 — broke sales totals in March not seen in six years!

Though past percentage increases have been greater than the 3.4 percent sales bump in March — it is the overall monthly total of 1.4 million US car sales industry-wide that encourages both the automotive industry and observers of the general economy.

The buoyancy of the auto sector — with an annualized sales rate approaching 16.8 million cars… is significant on several fronts.

First the kind of vehicles being sold — with Ford and Chevy pick-up trucks the overall number one and two best selling vehicles both up 16.3 percent and 8.4 percent respectively — indicates an improvement in the building and contracting sectors paralleling improvement in the housing and construction markets.

Premium and luxury vehicles from all major manufacturers are setting sales records — indicating that consumer confidence is strong — as buyers seek to trade-up in their new car purchases.

For manufacturers and car dealers both truck and upscale model sales yield higher margins — meaning stronger bottom lines.

Most importantly — these healthy stats are solid and not propped up elaborate sales incentives that helped hasten the auto market collapse during the recession.