The good news? Automakers are enjoying a sales boom in the United States the likes of which haven't been seen since the Great Recession brought the hammer down, with June 2014 sales alone surpassing those in July of 2006. Should the boom continue, 2014 will close as the industry's best year in a long time, with over 16 million vehicles sold when the calendar ticks over to 2015.
The bad news? This year may be the last year U.S. sales ever climb this high.
Autoblog reports a study by AlixPartners suggests sales will peak later this year, then head back down the mountain on the beaten path of rising interest rates — diminishing purchasing power in the process — then veer toward the long trail built upon the Millennials' alleged preference of Uber and Car2Go over individual ownership.
In the near-term, director Dan Hearsch warns the lines of cheap credit today will dry up over the next two to three years:
The biggest factor would be this credit bubble, and without making an exact projection of when that will happen, that, to use is the window when you'll see an impact on car sales. The other side of it is cyclical and predictable. … We're a little more pessimistic because of these other factors.
Further up the path, rising fuel prices will temporarily give hybrids and EVs a boost in sales, but improvements in the ICE and the ongoing issues with EVs — range, higher upfront costs and production of battery packs — will mitigate whatever gains are made unless the technology comes into parity with the ICE.
Finally, AlixPartners expects 80 percent of all vehicles sold in North America by 2017 will be connected vehicles, and advises governments and OEMs to prepare for the day autonomous vehicles take their first outings beyond Google's research facility, as such vehicles will be key to future sales.
from The Truth About Cars http://ift.tt/Jh8LjA
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