June auto registrations up

Arkansas sees 24 percent year-over-year increase

— Automobile registrations in Arkansas were up 24 percent in June compared with a year earlier, a Kentucky auto research firm says.

There were almost 7,900 new vehicles registered in the state in June, up from about 6,300 in June last year, said Cross-Sell of Lexington, Ky., which provides market analysis for the automotive industry.

But June’s total was down from about 10,200 new vehicles registered in Arkansas in May, which was the month with most titles issued in four years.

The increase extends a trend of year-over-year improvements in registrations to almost two years. Auto titles have been up 20 out of 21 months in comparison with the same month of the previous year, with April being the only month with a decline.

“The recovery of the auto industry is one of the bright spots of the economic recovery,” said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “That is even more so in Arkansas. I’ve thought these kind of yearover-year gains would be unsustainable, but it just keeps going on.”

Still, national automobile sales remain well below prerecession days. Analysts expect total 2012 sales around 14 million, compared with 16.1 million in 2007 and 17 million in 2005.

In Arkansas in the first half of 2012, there were about 46,700 new vehicles registered, up 22 percent compared with the same period last year, according to Cross-Sell. That compares with first-half registrations of 38,409 in 2011; 31,861 in 2010; and 29,862 in 2009.

Totals for vehicle titles can be skewed from month to month because Arkansans have 30 days to register their vehicles after purchasing them. Registrations are cited because no state agency provides the number of automobile sales in Arkansas each month.

The current fleet of vehicles on U.S. roads is the oldest on record, trade journal Automotive News has reported.

“At one time, we had a seven or 7.5-year average lifespan of a vehicle on the road,” said Dennis Jungmeyer, president of the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association. “Now that’s in excess of 10 [years]. Until that pulls back to an eight or nineyear average, we’re going to see pretty good sales. There is still a lot of pent-up demand out there with these older vehicles.”

There were almost 10,600 used vehicles sold by Arkansas dealers that were registered last month, up 6.5 percent from June last year.

Used cars are bringing record prices, Jungmeyer said.

And some late-model pickups are “extremely hot,” he said. Full-size pickups are the strongest selling models in the state.

“I’m hearing that if you have a [1- or 2-year-old] pickup with reasonable miles and in good condition you can almost buy a new pickup in some models. ... You can get within a couple thousand dollars,” he said.

Jungmeyer declined to identify which new pickup model he was describing.

“Dealers are discounting new vehicles, and sometimes you can get zero percent financing,” he added.

Chevrolet was the leading brand registered in the state in June, with about 1,450 titles, or 18.5 percent of the market. Ford was next, securing almost 15 percent of the market.

Full-sized pickup registrations last month totaled almost 1,650, nearly 21 percent of the market. Mid-sized cars led by the Toyota Camry were the second-highest category, accounting for about 1,450 titles and 18.5 percent of the market.

Ford’s full-sized pickups were the top model last month, with more than 450 registered. Chevrolet — which most frequently leads the pickup parade in Arkansas — was second, followed by GMC and Dodge trucks.

The Camry was the fifthhighest model on the registration list, followed by the Chevrolet Malibu and Chevrolet Equinox.

Pakko said many automobile buyers in the past would finance a new vehicle every two or three years.

“A lot of people did not keep up with that routine during the recession, so they are catching up,” he said.

Arkansas registrations are following the same national trend.

National auto sales were up 22 percent in June and up 15 percent the first six months of 2011, Automotive News reported in early July.

Arkansas’ automotive expansion seems to be very durable, Pakko said. But he said it is difficult to project whether registrations will continue the first six months’ pace in the second half of the year.

Business, Pages 25 on 07/26/2012

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