Auto Market Update Week Ending December 10th, 2022 (PDF)

Sales rates are lower than they should be, and this is worrisome to shoppers who are afraid they’re buying products that will take too long to sell. With values going down every week, many buyers hesitate to buy anything new.

• On a volume-weighted basis, the car segment is decreasing. In contrast, the previous week it decreased by 0.87%, while this week 0.86%.
• Nine Car segments reported decreases last week, with three of those decreases being greater than 1% (Sub-Compact, -1.20%; Prestige Luxury, -1.14%; Compact, -1.13%).
• In the overall Truck segment, there was a decrease of -0.90%, compared to last week’s small decline of -0.65%.
• Out of the thirteen Truck segments, only one reported a decline of over 1%: Compact Crossover at -1.20%.
• Last week Full-Size Pickup depreciation increased from -0.49% to -0.95%.

Retail (Used and New) Insights

• General Motors recently announced that they are developing an all-electric sedan. China is the first market for the vehicle, but there’s potential for it to be released in other countries and in the US as a possible replacement for the Chevrolet Malibu.
• Polestar is now offering an upgrade for owners to get even more horsepower from their Polestar 2. The Performance Package costs $1,195 and is available in a quick 4.2-second over-the-air upgrade that reduces a vehicle’s zero to 60 mph time by 3.0 seconds.
• Toyota announced that the Sub-Compact Crossover, C-HR, will only be available in Europe for next year.

Wholesale

The wholesale channels have been slow this week. We are still seeing model year 2023 vehicles come through lanes, so we can expect to see more 2024 announcements now that it’s late in the fourth quarter. Floors in many lanes are high, but there is a stable number of buyers. Sellers cannot hold onto their floors any longer, which is leading to low sales rates.