Car Sales On Track To Hit 60 Year Low In U.S. No Thanks To SUVs

Car sales in the United States are on (a negative) track to reach a 60 year low because of the huge demand for SUVs and crossovers.

Analysts predict car manufacturers in the United States to sell roughly 5.3 million cars this year. Such a figure would be the fewest sold since 1958, Automotive News reports.

Data gathered by Edmunds reveals that those who have sold a car and replaced it with another car has dropped to 53 per cent in the first five months of this year, down from the 68 per cent recorded in 2014.

According to Edmunds senior manager of industry analysis Ivan Drury, more efficient SUVs and trucks are playing a key role in the slow death of cars.

“With so many consumers taking advantage of low fuel costs to test out larger SUVs and trucks — which benefit from significantly better fuel economy than their predecessors — it will be harder and harder to convince anyone who has made a recent truck or SUV purchase that reverting back to a car would make any sense,” Drury said.

While Ford most notably made the decision to kill roughly all of its car models, it isn’t the only brand feeling the pinch of slowing demand for such vehicles. In 2017, just 10 per cent of FCA’s sales in the U.S. were for cars. This year, Jaguar’s car mix has dropped to 10 per cent, down from the 25 per cent it recorded in 2013. Subaru is one of the anomalies in the industry as it’s range has long revolved around crossovers, including the Outback and Forester.