Car sales continue recovery from pandemic

DENVER — Car sales in Colorado continue their recovery from the pandemic year of 2020 with sales in the first nine months of 2021 up 18.5% over the same period of the year prior.

The Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, which tracks vehicle sales, said auto sales in the state are slightly ahead of the U.S. market, which has seen an 18.2% increase over the year prior.

Light trucks continue to be the highlight of the auto sales market with SUVs, pickups and vans increasing at 21.6% and making up 85.6% of all new vehicle sales in the state.

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The dealers association reported that 160,158 light truck registrations occurred in the first nine months of the year, compared with 131,666 in the same period of 2020.

State residents are embracing electric and hybrid vehicles, the association said, with the state now ranked sixth among the states in sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Still, market share is small at 3.9% of vehicles sold. By comparison, 7.3% of vehicles sold in California — the market leader — are electric or hybrid.

“Demand for new trucks and vehicles remain high in Colorado, but future sales and registrations will be hampered by production and supply-related bottlenecks, along with a matrix of factors related to the chip shortage, transportation logistics, availability of labor and low inventory,” said Tim Jackson, association president, in a written statement. “Meanwhile, consumers who want to buy new vehicles continue benefiting from historically low interest rates, rising wages, accumulated savings, record-high household net worth and demand for new products coming into the market. In aggregate, these factors could slightly increase new vehicle registrations in the next quarter and into 2022.” 

Other highlights of the monthly report:

• Toyota continues to lead the best selling brands with 14.1% market share. Ford is next at 10.3%.
• Best selling model in the state was the RAM pickup at 4.5% market share with the Ford F-series pickups close behind at 4.4%.
• Used vehicle registrations were up 18.2% during the first three-fourths of the year.

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