Consumer Car-Buying Intent Rises With Confidence
By Michelle Krebs May 26, 2009Consumer confidence, a key factor in car buying, rose in May by the most in six years and
at a level not seen since last September.
What must be music to automakers' ears is the fact that the Conference Board's report showed that Americans planning to buy a car in the next six months rose to the highest level since April 2008.
The Conference Board's index came in significantly higher than expected at 54.9. The Conference Board cited as reasons for the rise as more optimism about the future job market, climbing stock prices, falling mortgage rates and speculation that the recession's end is in sight.
Still, high unemployment and falling real estate values are tempering confidence. A report from S&P/Case-Shiller Tuesday showed that home prices continued to fall.
The 28-point jump in consumer confidence over April and May is the biggest two-month rally since records began in 1967, Bloomberg News reported. The measure reached its lowest point ever in February, with a reading of 25.3.
In addition to buying cars, consumers considering the purchase of a large appliance rose to an eight-month high but the outlook for home purchases fell.
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Yep. turned in the '06 Milan off lease and purchased an '09 Mariner V6 4wd. 27.5 mpg at 60-70 mph
over a 300 mile trip. That's what the fwd Milan got, fercrineoutloud.
Re: the CC index-we did our business on a Saturday which is usually the busiest day for car sales. We were there for about three hours and there was only one other couple that came in during our visit, so we're still in the woods economy-wise, I suppose.
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