Report Predicts 20 Per Cent Fall In US Auto Market

Automotive intelligence firm Autopolis has produced a report, predicting difficult times ahead for the US auto industry, with demand falling by 10 per cent this year and a further 8.5 per cent in 2002. Should the US economy suffer the much-predicted “hard landing”, the situation could be even worse, says the report.

Sales of cars and pickups are predicted to fall until mid 2003, bottoming out at 14.1 million units, or 20 per cent down on the year 2000 sales figures of 17.6 million.

Autopolis says that history teaches that downturns following long periods of growth tend to last for two or three years and we are currently at the beginning of such a stage in the market cycle. The table below shows car and light truck sales in the US, from 1998 to 2005..