CBT News Market Update: Todd Skelton, Prime Automotive & Neal Gann, LotLinx

Welcome to another edition of the CBT News Market Update. To quickly recap this week’s numbers, the retail SAAR of new car sales came out to 13.06, a 0.8% dip from last year’s 13.17. New vehicle sales hit 246,628 up only 0.5% from last year when the inventory sold was 245,318. Used vehicle sales were down from 2019 levels. The number of used-vehicles sold sat at 171,769, a 1.6% dip from last year’s total of 174,523. Inventory levels among all new vehicles were down 9% from 2019. Used car inventory levels, however, were up 16.5%.

Here to break down these sales results and how these numbers reflect larger industry trends are Todd Skelton, CEO of Prime Automotive and Neal Gann, president of LotLinx.

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

• How do you foresee this holiday season affecting the market?
• Will typical annual trends carry on through 2021?
• Will the latest stimulus check have an impact on the market?
• This new age of online digital retailing solutions has created an easier buying process (less face-to-face/more digital) for consumers. How do you see consumers adapting?
• Armed with more robust digital tools, dealerships are moving towards a sales process model with a singular employee working one-on-one with a consumer. Do you see this becoming a larger trend?
• New digital efficiencies have allowed the average salesperson to sell around 14-15 cars a month vs. the 8-10 they have been selling for the past decade. How do you see that affecting dealerships from a cost standpoint?

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.