Discounts lure shoppers back to pickups
You have to hand it to some consumers: They know a good deal when they see one.
The numbers for vehicle sales in August show that U.S. consumers’ love affair with big vehicles, especially pickups, hasn’t entirely died.
Neither has the clamor for fuel-efficient cars.
Chalk up both trends to the fluid nature of the car business and continued dismay over the economy.
Huge discounts on new pickups from U.S. manufacturers and dealers — sometimes as much as $14,000, although the average incentive was closer to $5,300 — apparently outweighed concerns over gas costs and how few miles per gallon a driver may get from a V-8 truck.
The light-truck segment of the market rebounded in August to more than 13 percent of vehicle sales, up 4 percentage points from May.
As gasoline starts to approach $3.50 a gallon, the truck sales uptick may mean some stability is ahead for U.S. manufacturers.
For consumers, it may mean that as truck sales rise — or at least maintain the August levels — those lucrative incentives will be ratcheted down. But that’s not likely to happen soon.
On the flip side, prices aren’t likely to drop anytime soon on certain subcompacts that remain in short supply on many dealer lots.
The darling of eco shoppers, the Toyota Prius, departs dealer lots within days of being off-loaded from transporters. Other Toyota subcompacts are also in short supply — there is a 16-day supply of the Yaris and a 24-day supply of the Corolla.
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