CBT News Market Update: Jennifer Suzuki, eDealer Solutions & Jason Knight, LotLinx

Welcome to another edition of the CBT News Market Update. To quickly recap this week’s numbers, the retail SAAR came out to 12.84 this week, 1.4% higher than last year’s rate of 12.66. Inventory levels among all new vehicles were down an even 15% from 2019, however, used car inventory jumped 16%. Despite lower new car inventory, new-vehicle sales grew to 229,626, up 2.2% from last year when the inventory sold was 224,699. Used-vehicle sales were up as well at 188,426, a 4.7% jump from the year prior’s total of 171.941.

Here to break down these sales results and how these numbers reflect larger industry trends are Jason Knight, Vice Chairman at LotLinx, and Jennifer Suzuki, President of eDealer Solutions and acclaimed sales trainer.

In today’s segment, our panel breaks down the following:

• Major dealer groups are reporting their best quarters ever. Is the increase in profit margins a result of inventory scarcity, or could it be the effects of modern retailing methods?
• Digital retailing was a hot topic at the height of COVID. What role has it played now that stores and states have reopened?
• Are you seeing any major issues with digital retailing?
• Are dealers and consumers really adopting it as experts say?
• Do you feel there has been a fundamental shift in how dealers are selling?
• When inventory was scarce, dealers paid significantly for used cars. Now that levels are stabilizing, how should dealers avoid wholesale loss on those aging units?
• What are dealers expecting to see throughout the holiday season and the end of Q4?

Did you miss last week’s CBT News Market Update? Watch it here now and be sure to visit the CBT News Market Center powered by LotLinx for current data on the retail auto market.