Edmunds forecasts slower growth in 2013 U.S. auto sales
Baku, September 21 (AZERTAC). Auto consultant and consumer website Edmunds.com said on Thursday it expects the pace of the U.S. auto recovery to slow in 2013 when sales will rise 4 percent to 15 million vehicles.
Edmunds expects this year`s new auto sales to be 14.4 million vehicles, up 12.5 percent from 12.8 million vehicles in 2011.
Next year "will likely be the first year of non-double-digit sales growth since the recovery began in 2010," Edmunds chief economist, Lacey Plache, said in a statement.
She said economic uncertainty in the United States and "spillover effects from slowing economies abroad will continue to slow the pace of American economic growth, including car sales."
Plache said that the same "positive factors" that have boosted 2012 sales will be in play next year, including the release of pent-up demand among consumers driving older vehicles.
Also, more leases are expected to terminate in 2013 than this year, meaning an increase in the number of likely new-vehicle buyers, Edmunds said.
Auto sales dropped to a low not seen since World War Two, when adjusted for population, in 2009. That year, General Motors Co and Chrysler were restructured through government-supported bankruptcies. Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy managed by Italy`s Fiat SpA, which has since become its majority owner.
U.S. auto sales were 10.4 million new vehicles in 2009 and rose 11.5 percent in 2010, then rose 10.3 percent in 2011.
The figures are for total light vehicle sales, and do not include medium and heavy trucks.
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