Auto Sales Dropped in 2017, and They’ll Drop Again in 2018

The Wall Street Journal reports that auto sales dropped 1.8 percent last year:

The U.S. auto industry suffered its first annual sales decline since the financial crisis eight years ago, but a streak of strong profits is expected to overshadow a slowdown in dealership traffic….Executives have reasons for optimism as employment gains are leading to wage growth in certain pockets of the U.S. The federal tax cuts and a robust stock market could provide more spending power for people in the mood for a new vehicle.

….Still, vehicle makers are reducing North American production, including a broad pullback in the U.S., in anticipation of a softer market. North American output is expected to fall 2.3% in the first quarter, according to WardsAuto.com, a move aimed at trimming dealer inventories and lowering the supply of sedans and compact cars that are unpopular amid low fuel prices.

Here is monthly sales growth over the past five years:

The industry says it expects another 1.8 percent decline in 2018, but if this trendline continues it’s likely to be closer to a 3-4 percent decline. We’ll see.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate