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General Motors and Ford both reported their best year of US sales since the coronavirus pandemic scrambled the car market, as lower interest rates, higher inventory and deals persuaded shoppers to buy.
GM sold 2.7mn cars in the US in 2024, and Ford sold 2.1mn — a 4 per cent increase in sales for both companies compared to 2023. The totals were the companies’ highest since 2019.
The pace of car sales sped up at the end of the year as falling interest rates and improved inventory combined with a reduction in uncertainty tied to the US election that had kept consumers on the sidelines for several months.
“It’s just becoming an easier time to buy a vehicle, and that has definitely helped with sales,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds, an auto research business.
Data group Cox Automotive had forecast a December sales pace faster than the rate averaged in the first nine months of the year. The slower rate of cars being driven off lots earlier in the year caused industry watchers to wonder whether consumers were waiting to make a decision or if the slow sales signalled economic malaise to come.
Interest rates on loans for new vehicles peaked in June, and while the decline has been modest, November’s 6.8 per cent rate was the lowest since December 2022, Caldwell said.
There are also more cars to buy. Inventory has grown since shortages emptied dealers’ lots during the pandemic, and discounts have risen along with the number of cars and trucks for sale.
The Kelly Nissan dealership in suburban Chicago experienced both the lull and the uptick. Dealer Ryan Kelly, a board member at the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, said sales representatives began to notice longtime customers shying away from deals on new vehicles in August. The dealership was still selling cars, “it just didn’t feel like a normal August, September or October”.
Not every carmaker saw sales rise. Tesla’s sold fewer cars in 2024 than 2023, the first drop since 2011. Elon Musk’s company faces slowing demand in the US for electric vehicles, even as key products age and the billionaire’s politics have invited disdain from some potential buyers.
But with faster sales in the final quarter, Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke noted, “we not only made it through another year, but we ended up a little better than expected”.
