Auto Sales Are Booming If You Read The News Headlines, But A Quick Look At The Chart Below Shows A Much Slower Picture!
Posted By thestatedtruth.com on December 5, 2010
Hmm…..It’s really a simple concept…..Even with sales below prior peeks, the auto makers are profitable now because they have shed so much debt. GM did it through bankruptcy which converted much of its high interest bond debt into equity, and Ford did a bond to stock swap and buy back.  When you don’t pay all of that interest, natuarlly your expenses are less and you make more.
Based on an estimate from Autodata Corp, light vehicle sales were at a 12.26 million SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate)Â Â in November. That is up 13.2% from November 2009, and up slightly from the October 2010 sales rate.
This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales (seasonally adjusted annual rate) from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for November (red, light vehicle sales of 12.26 million SAAR from Autodata Corp).
This is the highest sales rate since September 2008, excluding Cash-for-clunkers in August 2009.
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