Ford, Nissan exceed estimates with January auto sales increases, from Chicago Tribune.
Ford beat estimates with U.S. auto sales rising 16 percent in January, while Nissan’s 15 percent increase also exceeded projections. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles gained 14 percent as cheaper gas and falling unemployment boosted consumer confidence.
All of Fiat Chrysler’s brands gained led by the Jeep sport-utility line’s 23 percent rise. Ram pickup and work-van sales rose 21 percent, and FCA US, formerly known as the Chrysler Group, has now reported rising sales for 58 consecutive months. Nissan topped estimates for an 11 percent rise as sales of its Altima midsize sedan jumped 17 percent to a January record of 26,408. Ford said its F-Series pickup line had its best January since 2004.
“This is going to be seen as a good month and a continuation of the trends we’ve seen,” Maryann Keller, an independent automotive consultant in Stamford, Connecticut, said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “It’s the fact that lenders are willing to make very good financing offers, both leasing and loans, to customers today with somewhat compromised credit, where three or four years ago they wouldn’t do it.”
