The auto industry appears ready to get off to a good start for the New Year — and could gain even more momentum if the Biden administration moves forward with new stimulus and infrastructure programs, a panel of industry analysts forecast.
The slow growth of the electric vehicle market could be a major beneficiary, demand in 2021 boosted not only by government incentives but also by the flood of new models coming this year, such as the GMC Hummer and Volkswagen ID.4. Ironically, that may not be good for the segment’s leading brand, Tesla, the experts warned during a seminar sponsored by Cox Automotive.
In line with several other forecasts, Cox’s official forecast calls for sales to reach 15.7 million for all of 2021, a 9% year-over-year increase. That’s still well below the 17.1 million number from 2019, but the primary reason for the gap is the sharp slump in fleet sales. Those – especially when it comes to daily rentals – likely won’t recover until 2023, Cox Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough cautioned, requiring time for business, as well as tourist, travel to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the article in The Detroit Bureau
