A recently released National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) report determined June vehicle sales decreased from 17 million annualized units to 15.4 million.
“Vehicle sales took a big tumble in June – after months of concerns about supply and semiconductor shortages, the squeeze has finally come to pass,” NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long said regarding the Macro Data Flash report. “With an economy in recovery, the macroeconomic factors exist for very strong sales, unfortunately, supply is not cooperating.”
Per Long, the May inventory of 2.2 million vehicles was over 60 percent below the lowest inventory level before 2020, contributing to price increases and fewer consumer buying options.
“Used vehicle prices are also skyrocketing, up 40 percent on the wholesale market in the past year,” Long said. “Though supply shortages may be at their bottom, it will take a while to ramp production back up. NAFCU expects tepid vehicle sales through the fall, almost fully dependent on the ability of manufacturers to build more cars.”
According to the analysis, July auto sales decreased from 4 million annualized units to 3.6 million annualized units, and light truck sales dipped to 11.8 million annualized units.