September US Auto SAAR Declined YoY Despite Surge In Incentive Spending To Record Highs

Jon Alternative Media, Blogosphere, Economy

The September U. S. auto SAAR declined YoY to 17.8mm units versus 18.1mm last year but came in better than wall street’s estimate of 17.5mm. The YoY decline came in spite of an increase in industry-wide incentive spending which soared to a record high of 12.6% of average transaction prices from 11.2% last year. Dealer inventory levels also ballooned at Ford and GM with Ford dealers now sitting on 80 days worth of inventory vs. only 68 days at this time last year while GM dealers are in a similar position with 79 days of inventory vs. 74 days last year.
Results by company were mixed with GM beating vs. wall street estimates, on much higher incentive spending, while VW was the biggest loser this month as it continues to suffer from it’s diesel emissions scandal.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Oct 3, 2016.