Auto Sales May Rise 20% in U.S. on 'Enormous Pent-Up Demand'

SEE ALSO: Complete Auto Sales Forecast Presentations(PDF)

SEE ALSO: New Car Shortage Coming(Originally Published April 2009)

Ypsilanti, Michigan December 15, 2009; At the CAR Breakfast Briefing Series Picking Up the Pieces: The Forecast for 2010 showed that U.S. auto sales will rise 20 percent in 2010, buoyed by pent-up demand and stronger credit markets, as the industry starts recovering from its worst year in almost three decades.

New Vehicle Deliveries will climb to 12.4 million from 10.3 million in 2008, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research said (Tuesday). “No recession has ever been this long in terms of cumulative job loss,” Sean McAlinden, CAR’s chief economist, said at the briefing. Asked if we will we ever see the 17 million-sales levels we saw a few years ago? Mr. McAlinden answered, "No, that was truly an automotive sales bubble."