By Nick Carey and Joseph White
DETROIT (Reuters) – Car dealers on Wednesday added to concerns about the state of the U.S. auto industry and how tough any downturn might be if its six-year recovery has ended.
In a conference call with media and analysts, officials of the National Automobile Dealers Association said they expected sales of cars and light trucks in the United States to dip to 17.1 million vehicles this year, high by historical standards but below 2016’s record 17.55 million vehicles.
The NADA call came just two days after disappointing industry figures for March that showed an annualized sales rate of around 16.6 million units.
NADA chairman Mark Scarpelli, an Illinois car dealer, echoed concerns of some Wall Street analysts that values for used sedans were dropping as more vehicles were turned in when leases ended.
“It’s a big number,” Scarpelli said, referring to the numbers of leased cars headed to used car lots. “But it’s not an insurmountable number.” Falling values for these used cars are a problem for car makers and their finance companies, not dealers, Scarpelli said, because auto retailers can return the cars to the banks or manufacturers.
