New car sales US: Growth and Challenges

New car sales in the US saw an increase of nearly five percent from January to March this year.

Despite high interest rates, buyers remained in the market, as reported by Associated Press.

However, the growth in electric vehicle sales slowed down in the first three months of 2024.

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Conventional buyers remain wary due to limited range and the lack of charging stations.

Automakers, most of whom have announced their US sales figures, sold nearly 3.8 million cars in the first quarter.

This meant an annual rate of 15.4 million units.

As dealership inventories are nearing pre-pandemic levels, automakers had to cut prices.

On the other hand, the company J.D. Power indicated that the average sale price of cars during March was $44,186.

This is 3.6 percent less than a year ago and the largest decline on record for the month of March.

The company noted that automakers’ discounts this month were about 66 percent higher than a year ago.

In other words, approximately $2,800, according to Associated Press.

This includes greater availability of leasing deals.

J.D. Power estimates that leases accounted for nearly a quarter of last month’s retail sales, up from 19.6 percent in March 2023.

Electric vehicle sales increased by just 2.7 percent to just over 268,000 units in that quarter.

That was well below the 47 percent growth that drove unprecedented sales and accounted for 7.6 percent of the market last year.

The slowdown, led by Tesla, confirms automakers’ fears.

They may have moved too fast in their ambitions to capture electric vehicle buyers.

Electric vehicle sales accounted for 7.1 percent of the US market.

This was in the period from January to March 2024.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, said automakers are facing more skeptical buyers.

“All the hurdles we’ve seen in survey data come from there,” Drury stated.

“Those real-world concerns about charging infrastructure, battery life, insurance costs,” the director of insights mentioned.

Nearly everyone initially inclined towards electric cars has already purchased one, as reported by Associated Press.