November vehicle sales top year prior for first time since pandemic began

New-vehicle registrations in Colorado were up in November over the same month of 2019 — the first time the monthly number has exceeded the same month of the year prior since the pandemic shutdowns began.

The Colorado Automobile Dealers Association reported Thursday that the state’s new-vehicle registrations increased 5.1% in November versus a year earlier. In the same period, light-truck registrations were up 11%, while passenger cars fell 18%. 

Vehicle sales for the year, however, remain down. For the first 11 months of 2020, new-vehicle registrations declined 13.1% versus a year earlier, but bettered the U.S. new-vehicle market, which was off 14.9%.

CADA said that vehicle registrations for new cars and light trucks through November 2020 totaled 199,782 versus 230,016 over the same period in 2019.

“New vehicle registrations are slowly recovering in Colorado on the positive side with a 1.3% increase for October and November combined,” Tim Jackson, CADA president, said in a written statement. “While we continue to see negative data overall, the percentage of decline has steadily improved since last spring. New light trucks and SUVs continue to perform well.”

Relatively low and steady gas prices have helped the market, Jackson said.  

Other highlights year-to-date:

• Lincoln, RAM and Kia registrations increased through November 2020. Lincoln increased 4.8%, RAM increased 3.8% and Kia increased 2.2%.
• Colorado’s top five market share leaders are Toyota, Ford, Subaru, Chevrolet and Jeep. Subaru market share in the state exceeded U.S. levels by 5.7 share points.
• Korean brand registrations were down 2.3%, Japanese brands were down 16.6%, European brands were down 13.4% and domestic brands were down 11.2%.
• The used vehicle market was down 15.9% through November 2020.

© 2020 BizWest Media LLC

Share on Facebook on LinkedIn