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Replies to post #22445 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence
06/25/20 2:34 PM
So far, production appears to be ramping up with few major disruptions. Ford said it now expected to have all its U.S. plants back on normal shift schedules this Monday, two weeks sooner than expected. G.M. has returned all of its truck and S.U.V. plants to three shifts a day, and most of its other plants are on the schedules they were on before the pandemic took hold. Ninety percent of the company’s hourly workers are back to work, the company said.
G.M., Ford and Fiat Chrysler have most of their assembly plants in the Midwest, where coronavirus cases have been falling or are flat. But even foreign automakers, which have most of their plants in the South where cases are rising, said factories were more or less back to normal.
01/05/21 2:23 PM
The U.S. auto industry is expected to report its lowest yearly sales tally in nearly a decade Tuesday, as the fallout from the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 upended a record run for the American auto sector. But a sharp bounceback in demand in the year’s second half led shoppers to pay record sums for new wheels, bolstering car-company profits and giving executives optimism for a sustained recovery in 2021.
…analysts say the conditions are ripe to further lift results this year, buoyed by near-record-low interest rates and another round of federal stimulus, including direct payments to some Americans beginning this week. Dealers and executives are optimistic the fallout from the pandemic will spur new-car demand as some consumers opt for personal-vehicle ownership over public transit or shared rides.
…Another factor, dealers say, is that some quarantine-weary American consumers—forced to forego travel and dining out—have spent their money on big-ticket items like boats, home projects and new cars.
…The average price paid for a vehicle in December was around $38,000, up from about $34,000 in early 2020, research firm J.D. Power estimates.
