The US auto sales have been booming for the past few years, and some of the upsurge has been driven by so-called “subprime” lending and by extended terms on loans. As we tend to have the most positive expectations, we can not exclude the worry among market observers who don't think sales can be sustained at their current near-record levels.
When the counting is all-done in 2016, we will possibly not see such good sales results as in 2015 when a record of 17.5 million new cars and trucks rolled off dealer lots. We can still expect for 17.3 million this year. A slight softening in car sales is unavoidable and echoed executives at numerous major automakers who have indicated that the US market has reached a sales plateau. But this plateau is at historically levels, since even Ford's CEO admitted that. Even a market debate has been set on which people are guessing on what will happen next. In previous boom periods, car makers have spent their profits by upping incentives to hold market share ahead of the predictable cyclical downturn.
The boom followed a financial catastrophe that sent US auto sales down to 10 million in annual sales at one juncture. It's take the better part of seven years for demand to return to "normal" levels, before moving into record territory. The sale will decline steadily, but it will take a while until then, because the truck and SUV sales are still going strong, and keep the market alive.
