Steel Markets
January 14, 2021
U.S. Auto Outlook Appears Promising Through 2025
Written by Sandy Williams
The U.S. automotive industry showed remarkable resiliency in 2020 despite a production shutdown in March and the most challenging year since the Great Recession. U.S. auto sales ended the year at an estimated 14.6 million units, well below forecasts of 16.7 million, yet incredibly robust amidst a pandemic, high unemployment and an economic recession.
U.S. auto sales fell 48 percent when the coronavirus hit, dropping from a peak seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17.2 million units in February 2020 to a 9.1 million vehicle trough in April. To illustrate the dramatic decline, during the 2008-2009 recession it took 18 months for auto sales to bottom at 9.2 million units in February 2009. In 2020, it only took two months, said Ford Chief Economist Emily Kolinski Morris during the Automotive Insights Symposium held Wednesday. Recovery from the last downturn was a 52-month stretch before auto sales again saw a SAAR above 16 million units. Current sales indicate the U.S. may reach that mark again in late 2021.
