Auto Affordability Slips in Second Quarter, Comerica Reports

    DETROIT, Aug. 13 The purchase of an average-priced new
vehicle during the second quarter of 2001 required 23.4 weeks of median family
income, before taxes, according to the Auto Affordability Index compiled by
Detroit-based Comerica Bank.  This compares with a revised 23.2 weeks of
income required for purchase in the first quarter.  During the same quarter a
year earlier, a new vehicle purchase also took 23.4 weeks of income, Comerica
reported.
    The average new vehicle price in the second quarter was $22,199, up $162
or 0.7 percent from the first quarter.  Median family income rose by 0.9
percent between the first and second quarters.
    "Despite incomes outpacing car prices and a drop of more than one-half
percentage point in financing rates, auto affordability lost 0.2 weeks,
because customers lengthened the term of these vehicle loans by a significant
1.7 months, thereby causing total new vehicle costs to rise by 1.6 percent,"
said David L. Littmann, chief economist at Comerica Bank.
    Comerica's Auto Affordability Index is compiled from Commerce Department
and Federal Reserve data.