Easier credit and a few new tricks from dealers and automakers put auto sales on their fastest pace -- excluding cash for clunkers -- since August 2008, just before the Lehman Bros. crash and the nation's economic meltdown.
February light-vehicle sales jumped 27 percent over the same month last year. The 13.4 million annual selling rate broke through a four-month plateau in the low-to-mid-12 million range.
And all the growth was retail. Except for Toyota, the large automakers reported a lower fleet mix.
What made it happen?
-- Dealers say manufacturers offered inventive incentives that met changing consumer demand: less cash on the hood, richer leasing and financing deals and more lease pull-ahead deals.
-- Automakers say dealers have sharpened use of new technology for customer relations -- replacing or supplementing mailings with quick-response media such as texting, e-mails, Facebook and Twitter.
"There is a thaw in credit availability," said Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley's top global auto analyst. "The growth is in lease financing. Someone with a 650 FICO score is now getting approved on a three-year lease."
Jesse Toprak, vice president of TrueCar.com., said dealers were able to react quickly to the easing of credit in February because of new, faster customer-contact technology.
"The last few months, lots of prospects got turned down," he said. When credit availability surged, "salesmen were calling them back quickly."
Economic signs were good, too. Consumer confidence rose last month, and household income grew because of federal tax cuts.
Read more
February light-vehicle sales jumped 27 percent over the same month last year. The 13.4 million annual selling rate broke through a four-month plateau in the low-to-mid-12 million range.
And all the growth was retail. Except for Toyota, the large automakers reported a lower fleet mix.
What made it happen?
-- Dealers say manufacturers offered inventive incentives that met changing consumer demand: less cash on the hood, richer leasing and financing deals and more lease pull-ahead deals.
-- Automakers say dealers have sharpened use of new technology for customer relations -- replacing or supplementing mailings with quick-response media such as texting, e-mails, Facebook and Twitter.
"There is a thaw in credit availability," said Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley's top global auto analyst. "The growth is in lease financing. Someone with a 650 FICO score is now getting approved on a three-year lease."
Jesse Toprak, vice president of TrueCar.com., said dealers were able to react quickly to the easing of credit in February because of new, faster customer-contact technology.
"The last few months, lots of prospects got turned down," he said. When credit availability surged, "salesmen were calling them back quickly."
Economic signs were good, too. Consumer confidence rose last month, and household income grew because of federal tax cuts.
Read more
