'Auto Trends' Talks About Consumer New Car Purchasing Behavior Post Pandemic And The New Tariffs

Auto Analyst Tom Libby  (Photo Credit: S&P)

Tom Libby, a Detroit-based auto analyst, who serves as S&P Global Mobility director of loyalty, talks to Auto Trends with JeffCars.com, a syndicated multicultural automotive radio program about the latest car-buying trends.

Being that this is the five-year anniversary of the Covid-10 pandemic, Libby analyzes the shift in consumer purchasing behavior with new vehicles throughout that period, as well as the average transaction prices. 

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Its not uncommon these days to see virtually empty car lots. This is as a result of  auto manufacturing plants closing last spring, at the request of the government to combat Covid-19. Ironically, almost a year later, the auto industry is still reeling from the closures in both the new and used car markets. Thus, this has led to a historic price surge in both the new and used car markets. In some cases a market adjustment have been applied to some vehicles for dealers to literally capitalize upon the inventory imbalance.

Moreover, throughout the pandemic, the government has doled out billions in financial incentives to stimulate the economy to business owners, gig workers, parents with young kids under 18 and to most taxpayers, in order to steer clear of another Great Recession. While there is a segment of the population that has been impacted by the hardest hit areas of the economy: travel, hospitality and the restaurant industry, there is a segment of society, who hasn’t missed a beat, in terms of their income, with the ability to work from home all while taking care of their kids. With this being the case, according to J.D. Power Insights, the sales of new vehicles in the U.S. priced above $80,000 more than doubled in the first five month of 2021, when compared to the same period in 2019.