The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Auto market recovers after dip
Bitter cold blamed for early sales slump compared with figures from a year ago
The Cleveland auto market recovered in April following an early dip in 2018, according to figures released by the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association (GCADA).
New vehicle sales in January started off on a sour note with dealers across northern Ohio selling 20,200 vehicles compared to 21,996 a year prior for a decline of 7.8 percent. An overall decline of 5.48 percent in the first quarter was attributed to a particularly harsh Ohio winter.
“The bitter cold took a bite out of sales in January across all segments,” said Louis A. Vitantonio, President of the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association. “We see a rebound in February as we move into the Auto Show, which brings additional incentives and provides an opportunity for consumers to shop all the brands in one location.”
Sales of cars, sedans and coupes continued a two-yearold trend of outperforming trucks, crossovers and SUVs for
January, according to figures.
Chevrolet led the way among new vehicle sales with 3,243 sales followed by Ford with 2,960 and Honda with 1,650.
However, in a May release, local auto numbers showed signs of recovery with a nearly nine percent increase compared to April 2017.
“The dealers of Northern Ohio bucked the national trend with increased sales of new cars and trucks in April,” Vitantonio said. “On the heels of the auto show, the momentum continued into April for most brands with a surprising surge for passenger cars. We continue to anticipate a strong 2018 as compared to 2017.”
Chevrolet continued to show its dominance in new vehicle in northeast Ohio selling 3,378 vehicles in the month, an increase of more than 12 percent over April of 2017. Ford came in second selling 3,047 new vehicles followed by: Honda (1,835 units sold), Toyota (1,666 units sold) and Jeep (1,588 units sold), the latter representing an increase of more than 18 percent over April of 2017. Twenty-two brands registered sales increases in the month, compared to only 17 in March of 2018. According to figures from the Auto Dealers Association, local dealerships sold a total of 22,073 new vehicles in the Cleveland area in April, showing a rebound for the overall industry moving into quarter two.