Strong Auto Sales in November, Helped by Black Friday

According to TrueCar, a negotiation-free car buying and selling platform, November saw strong auto sales, flat incentive spending, and rising transaction prices – all indications of successful Black Friday sales events.

In fact, according to the company, promotions by automakers and dealers efforts to capitalize on Black Friday appear to have had more success than those by non-automotive retailers, based on initial estimates.

TrueCar estimates U.S. sales of new cars and light trucks expanded 4.1 percent last month, rising to the highest November volume since 2001.

The average transaction price (ATP) for light vehicles was $32,482, up 0.6 percent from a year ago, while average incentive spending per unit declined $6 to $2,660.

The ratio of incentive spending to ATP was 8.2 percent, narrowing 0.8 percent from last year.

“Automakers were keen marketers in November, tapping early into Black Friday magic to boost sales to levels not seen in more than a decade,” said John Krafcik, president of TrueCar. “While the deals were good, automakers held the line on incentives while boosting average transaction prices about one percent.”

In contrast, non-automotive retail shopping traffic during the Black Friday period, from Nov. 27 through Nov. 30, to stores and online sites dropped by 5.2 percent from a year ago to 133.7 million unique shoppers versus 141.1 million in 2013, according to the National Retail Federation’s Thanksgiving Weekend Spending Survey.

Category: Featured, Management, Vehicles