The
research firm said the two-month increase in vehicles' average
age over the 2019 figure could be short-lived as sales of both
new and used cars continue to pick up as the pandemic eases.
Vehicle miles traveled in the United States declined more than
13% in 2020, according to IHS, while more than 15 million
vehicles were scrapped - about 5.6 percent of the total vehicle
population.
Normally, such a high scrappage rate would cause average vehicle
age to decline, the firm said. But fewer miles traveled,
combined with lower vehicle sales during the pandemic, had the
opposite effect, with average age rising from 11.9 years in
2019.
IHS researchers also said an ongoing shortage of semiconductors,
which cut into vehicle production, resulted in lower dealer
inventories and inflated transaction prices, in turn causing a
concurrent rise in used vehicle prices.
The firm said these factors could cause the average vehicle age
to go back down in 2021, as more owners sell or trade in their
older used vehicles.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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