U.S. auto sales showed surprising strength in March, thanks in part to sales to rental companies and other businesses and ongoing demand for vehicles despite rising interest rates and auto prices.
March’s seasonally adjusted annual rate, or SAAR, was 14.8 million vehicles, Cox Automotive said this week. That’s down from 16 million in January and 15 million in February, Cox said. A year ago, auto makers had little inventory and put emphasis on retail sales, which are more profitable, Cox analyst Michelle Krebs said. “Fleet sales were next to nothing,” she said.
“Over the last decade, low interest rates combined with longer loan terms allowed Americans to embrace the ‘bigger is better’ mentality and buy larger, more richly equipped trucks and SUVs that dominate the roads and driveways across the country today as small vehicles are going extinct,” Caldwell wrote.