Golden State auto dealerships continued to claw their way back toward pre-recession sales numbers in the second quarter.
The Sacramento-based California New Car Dealers Association’s quarterly report, released Friday, reported 323,762 new-vehicle registrations in the second quarter, up 26 percent from 257,031 in the year-ago period. Registrations include fleet transactions.
Through six months, there were 603,910 new-vehicle registrations, up 23 percent from 490,861 in the first half of last year. CNCDA expects sales to slow during the second half of the year, but the long-range forecast is promising.
“We have seen the bottom, and folks are returning to the showroom” said Tom Hoffman, CNCDA chairman and owner of Puente Hills Chevrolet in Los Angeles County. “We expect slow but steady growth over the next couple of years.”
CNCDA’s analysis showed a strong surge in passenger car sales in Northern California in the first half – 83,805 registrations, up 26.2 percent from 66,415 in the first half of last year. Northern California light-truck registrations totaled 60,527, up 14.9 percent from 52,675 in 2009.
Toyota retained its strong hold as the most popular brand in the state, with 22.4 percent of the market through June. Ford, with 12.9 percent, just edged Honda (12.8 percent) for the second spot. General Motors vehicles accounted for 11.8 percent of new-vehicle registrations.
Two Honda passenger cars, Accord and Civic, were the most popular models statewide through June, with registrations of 20,597 and 20,091, respectively.
The Ford F-Series pickup, the best-selling vehicle segment in the United States for decades, was the top-selling American make in the state, with 9,383 registrations.
CNCDA projected sales of nearly 1.2 million new vehicles statewide by the close of 2010. That would be a 15.3 percent increase over 2009 sales, but would fall well short of pre-recession totals, which typically topped 1.5 million units.
Edmunds.com, the Santa Monica-based automotive website, said the next two months will be key for dealers in California and the nation.
“July and August sales may suggest a rebound, but the underlying trends haven’t changed,” said Jeremy Anwyl, Edmunds’ chief executive officer. “The market mostly consists of deal-seekers today, and July and August are historically among the best months for picking up bargains.”
Anwyl predicted that “September, October and November will probably be soft, since the old-model inventory is largely gone by then, and so are the deals, or so car shoppers have become conditioned to expect.”
Also, auto industry analysts noted that even strong July-August sales likely won’t surpass last year’s numbers, which spiked amid the federal Cash for Clunkers program.
