U.S. auto sales for September to be highest in 2017: JD
Power and LMC
Send a link to a friend
 [September 30, 2017]
(Reuters) - Americans in
hurricane ravaged cities are replacing their damaged vehicles and that
is set to lift the pace of vehicles sales for September to its highest
level this year, according to consultancies J.D. Power and LMC
Automotive.
September retail sales are expected to come in at an annualized selling
rate of 15 million vehicles, flat from a year earlier.
"The effect of hurricanes Harvey and Irma is expected to boost retail
light vehicle demand through the remainder of 2017 and into 2018, as
recovery continues," Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting
at LMC Automotive, said on Friday.
Hurricane Irma hit the United States on Sept. 10, about two weeks after
Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston, Texas, causing billions in
damages, mostly from flooding.
"With the need to replace 500,000 or more damaged or destroyed vehicles,
the U.S. auto market slowdown will see some relief as demand over the
next 6-9 months will likely be upwardly distorted," Schuster said.
"However, this does not change the overall expectation of level to
weaker demand in the U.S. over the next 2-3 years."
[to top of second column] |
Cars are shown for sale with financing at a car lot in National
City, California, U.S., June 30, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Retail sales in September are expected to fall 2.6 percent to 1.2 million
vehicles, compared with September 2016, the consultancies reported.
Incentives have hit all-time highs as manufacturers continue with discount
aggressively to clear out record inventories of prior year vehicles, J.D. Power
and LMC Automotive said.
"While the industry will benefit from additional replacement demand from storm
damaged vehicles in the coming months, elevated incentives remain a threat to
the overall health of the industry," Thomas King, senior vice president of the
data and analytics division at J.D. Power said.
(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
