September 2009 U.S. Sales will Plunge, J.D. Power Says

Washington DC September 25, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that U.S. auto sales are expected to plunge in September back to the worst levels of 2009 as buying dried up following the government's cash for clunkers incentive program, J.D. Power and Associates said on Thursday.

According to Automotive News, U.S. auto sales overall are expected to come in at a 9.2 million vehicle annualized rate and retail sales are forecast as the worst of the year, J.D. Power said.

Its forecasts were based on sales through the first two-thirds of September. The overall rate would about equal the result from February, the worst annualized sales rate of the year. J.D. Power maintained its full 2009 and 2010 sales outlooks. U.S. auto sales in July and August were boosted sharply by the government's Cash for Clunkers program.

Industry analysts widely expected a drop in the sales rate with the exhaustion of the program, which ended about three weeks into August. The U.S. monthly auto sales rate was about 14.1 million units in August, according to Autodata Corp. J.D. Power also said retail sales were expected to come in at a 7.5 million annualized rate in September, the lowest of the year, but are expected to rise after the September swoon under improving consumer confidence and credit conditions.