Sales of pickup trucks have rebounded to where they were before the coronavirus outbreak.\u00a0
(Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<\/div>\nSmelling opportunity to bring in new buyers and gain market share, all foreign makers have new compact and mid-size sedans in U.S. showrooms. For Hyundai\u2019s part, it has been aggressive during COVID with its Elantra compact and midsize Sonata.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gained share in both segments. Those are our bread and butter. We\u00a0are gaining share in segments where consumers still want to buy passenger cars,\u201d said sales chief Parker.<\/p>\n
As diverse as their segment strategies are, both domestic and foreign automakers pursued similar, heavy incentive pricing and online programs to keep inventory moving. Zero percent financing on 84-month loan deals hit record levels for the last two months with incentive levels per vehicle hitting a record $5,000 in early May.<\/p>\n
As states began to open in late May and factories got back up to speed, manufacturers began to pull back on\u00a0incentive deals which analysts say could cool sales into the usually hot summer months.<\/p>\n
\u201cReduced incentives are being driven by lower inventories but pose a threat to the sales recovery,\u201d said J.D Power data analyst Tyson Jominy. \u201cWe may see much tougher month of June compared to May.\u201d<\/p>\n
But carmakers are also eyeing\u00a0consumer shifts forced by the unprecedented COVID crisis that may benefit their business in the long run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his pandemic is reminding people of the value of individual mobility,\u201d said VW sales chief Movassaghi. \u201cThe appeal of getting into a crowded subway train or the back of someone else\u2019s Uber is diminished for the time being. A car has always been a sanctuary, and I think we\u2019re seeing a resurgence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The challenging COVID-19 auto market has been a tale of two camps: the Detroit Three and foreign transplants. Defying many predictions that\u00a0consumer demand would collapse amid pandemic lockdowns, both have recorded\u00a0better-than-expected sales in the months of April and May even as they have pursued different strategies playing to their strengths. Buy PhotoJoe Busch, sales consultant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25479,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25478\/revisions\/25479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}