Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Thursday, July 3.
The results are in, the dust settled. U.S. light-vehicle sales' spring surge is already giving way to a summer swoon as the effects of import tariffs and affordability continue to roil the automotive industry, Michael Martinez and David Phillips report.
Deliveries in the second quarter rose 3.4 percent from year-ago levels, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center, mostly from pull-ahead sales in April and May. J.D. Power estimated that approximately 173,000 extra vehicles were sold in March and April.
Sign up for Automotive News' Daily 5 report.
As everyone probably could have guessed, sales fell in June — by 4.3 percent, GlobalData said in a preliminary report, marking the first month this year the market has turned negative.
In another sign of a cooldown, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales in June was 15.65 million, Motor Intelligence said. That's the lowest figure since January.
How's the rest of the year looking? Not so hot. Analysts expect more of the same in the second half for several reasons: Inventories continue to tighten, prices are rising in response to tariffs, consumers are facing elevated borrowing costs and automakers are coping with the potential loss of federal electric vehicle incentives.
"The new-vehicle market so far in 2025 has been a positive story with sales running well ahead of last year's pace," Cox Automotive Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough said. "However, we expect the story is about to change."
Indeed.
Don't miss our stories on rising cargo thefts, AlixPartners' prediction that just 15 of the 129 brands selling EVs and plug-in hybrids in China will be financially viable by 2030, and the latest buy-sell news.
That's it for now. There will not be a Daily 5 tomorrow, July 4. We'll be back Monday. Have a great holiday weekend!
If you want to view this story in your browser, click here.
— Wes Raynal, assistant web editor
No comments:
Post a Comment