By Jennifer Keiper, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) A slight slowdown in the auto industry may mean a deal for you. General Motors says its June year-over-year sales dropped 2 percent. Ford sales rose 6-percent and Fiat Chrysler says its June sales rose 7-percent. Those numbers aren’t bad but they’re not the great ones we saw in the years following the recession when there was a lot of pent-up demand.
However, Ford Vice President Mark LaNeve says SUVs are still hot and as far as pickup trucks go, “We saw tremendous strength in trucks in the first half of the year, with a strong sales acceleration in June. Through the first half of the year, Ford brand trucks are up 13% with more than half-a-million sold.”
Kia spokesman James Bell tells WLS, historically the auto industry sees election years as having an impact on sales.
“People not looking to another used car or not looking to put another set of tires on the old car and are looking at some great deals and there are some really good deals to be had because the business has slowed a little bit and, again, I think it’s largely in anticipation of the election in November. So, there are strong incentive programs really starting to kick off,” said Bell.
J.D. Power and LMC Automotive projected record incentives of just over $32-hundred dollars per unit for the month of June.
