June 30, 2020—Many automakers are giving out discounts in order to cope with auto sales reaching all-time lows due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Reuters.
According to the report, analysts are forecasting June sales to fall by 25 percent from the year prior, but are expected to recover from the huge blows in March, April, and May. Since March, the automakers have looked to provide many incentives to car buyers in order to keep sales moving ahead. The deals have been good, but industry officials and analysts are saying sales could hurt because of tight inventory.
On a per vehicle basis, spending on discounts was at record levels for June at about $4,441 per unit, a 12 percent increase from $3,966 per unit in June 2019, according to J.D. Power. In April, per vehicle spending peaked at about $5,000 for the year, jumping 40 percent from April 2019.
Belal Bilto, a sales executive and Manhattan resident in New York City, for example, just bought a midsize pickup Jeep Gladiator this month for just over $48,000—a discount of about $5,000 on the list price and given a seven-year, no interest loan, according to the report.
