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New car sales expected to grow by 1.1 million in 2010 - Repost from NADA Newsletter / Dayton Daily News By Tim Tresslar, Staff Writer

Pent-up demand is driving new vehicle sales to their highest level since 2008, an auto dealers trade group said.

Sales of light vehicles, on the decline since at least 2006, have accelerated this year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. Paul Taylor, an NADA economist, said Tuesday that NADA officials look for sales to reach 11.5 million vehicles this year. In comparison, new vehicles sales reached 10.4 million in 2009.

In 2008, dealerships sold 13.2 million new vehicles while in 2007 they sold 16.1 million, the NADA said.

Taylor said improvements in the stock market and pent-up demand created from consumers putting off purchases will push up car purchases next year.

The period between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day tends to be one of the briskest for dealers, Taylor said. A combination of consumers armed with time off from work and cash given to them as gifts, along with heavy promotion by the auto industry fuel the increased demand, he said.

An upturn in the automotive industry is good news for Ohio, which remains one of the nation’s largest producers of motor vehicles. Additionally, Ohio’s new vehicle dealerships generate $17.8 billion in sales and employ more than 38,000, according to NADA figures.

Larry Taylor, vice president and general manager of Beau Townsend Ford in Vandalia, said his dealership is on track to sell 260 new and used vehicles in December, compared to 156 in December 2009. He also anticipates higher sales in the first quarter of next year.

He attributes the gains to pent-up demand by consumers, who have put off buying cars as long as possible, and by consolidation of local dealerships.

“I think I’m getting a bigger piece of a smaller pie,” he said.

Jeff Reichard, vice president of Reichard Buick GMC, said sales this year of Buicks have increased 17 percent while GMC sales have climbed 131 percent, compared to a year ago. December sales also are higher than the same month in 2009, he said.

Demand for the Terrain, a compact crossover SUV, and to a lesser extent the Acadia have helped drive gains in GMC’s sales, Reichard said Tuesday.