Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke breaks down current auto industry data

Data and trends in retail automotive can often fluctuate depending on who you ask so to help us sort through the latest information is Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist for Cox Automotive. We’ll be discussing the latest data and what dealers can expect from these industry trends.

The last few months have been incredible for the auto retail industry considering the initial impact of the coronavirus. Depending on which metric dealers choose to look at, for example, profits, it may have been the best months many dealers have ever seen. According to Smoke, the industry has benefited from strong consumer demand and used-inventory that was purchased at much lower prices.

There is a lot of Cox Automotive data that supports two major contributions to the successful Summer. The first was a large amount of pent up demand coming into late Spring. The federal government stimulus package also gave consumers extra capital to spend on new and used vehicles.

However, as Q3 winds down, pent up demand has leveled out and stimulus money has been spent. Now, the industry faces problems surrounding supply. While manufacturers are trying to ramp up production, Smoke is skeptical about their ability to get back to 100% in a COVID world. The reality, says Smoke, is that our economy as a whole looks like a 20% less economy. There are areas of our economy that simply cannot function at full capacity without wide-spread vaccinations. This notion influences what is realistically possible in the year ahead.

Jonathan Smoke and the economic industry insights office, leverage data across all of the Cox Automotive brands to decipher relevant trends and actionable insights in the automotive retail industry. Prior to his role at Cox Automotive, Smoke was the Chief Economist at realtor.com and Hanley Wood. For more great insight from Smoke, check out his Auto Market Weekly Summaries here.