U.S. auto retail sales are expected to dip in January as reduced manufacturing due to the Omicron variant, supply chain constraints and global inflation caused prices to soar amid high demand, consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said, Reuters reported. Retail sales of new vehicles could fall 8.3% to 828,900 units from a year earlier, a report released by the consultants on Wednesday said. "The volume of new vehicles being delivered to dealerships in January has been insufficient to meet strong consumer demand, resulting in a significantly diminished sales pace," said Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Powers. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused bottlenecks in supply chains, driving up costs for everything from labor to raw materials. With consumer demand exceeding supply, new vehicle prices continue to go up. The average new-vehicle retail transaction price in January is expected to reach $44,905, the previous high for any month was in December 2021 at $45,283. Total new-vehicle sales for January 2022, including retail and non-retail transactions, are projected to reach 932,099 units, a 15.6% decrease from last year.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-auto-sales-slip-january-140001706.html
