North American Automotive Industry Forecasts and Trends

GlobalAutoIndustry.com’s latest Audio Interview “ North American Automotive Industry Forecasts and Trends”features Haig Stoddard. Mr. Stoddard is Senior Industry Analyst – Markets, with Wards Intelligence, and has followed the auto industry for over three decades.

In the 19-minute Audio Interview, Mr. Stoddard discusses these questions:

• When do you expect the North American market to return to pre-Covid – at least 2019 – levels for sales and production?
• What is your sales outlook for North America for the rest of this year and 2021 – what is pushing growth and what are potential headwinds in the next 15 months?
• What does that mean for production – pursuant to that: with demand bouncing back faster than most expectations since the Covid-19 impact caused the North American market to bottom-out in April, why are automakers so far unable to significantly raise new-vehicle inventory, particularly in the U.S.?
• Due to factors like the possibility more people continue to work from home, do you see any near-term or permanent shifts in consumer preference in new vehicles caused by the pandemic, such as a change (up or down) in the outlook for battery-electric vehicles?
• Final thoughts?