Motor vehicle sales may have rebounded a bit in February

Amid all the news of war in the Middle East, global travel disruptions, and stock market turmoil, Americans are still buying stuff they need and want — including new wheels.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its latest report on light vehicle sales on Wednesday — that includes sales of cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks. The numbers for February are expected to be a bit stronger than January, when sales typically flag because, well, who wants to walk around a dealer’s lot in winter?

Looking back over the last few years, though, auto sales have been volatile. There were COVID-induced shortages, followed by surging demand, and more recently, consumers rushing in to buy before EV tax incentives expired and tariffs pushed sticker prices higher.

Auto sales flagged late last year and into January. But, “so far, February sales from manufacturers look pretty good,” said Erin Keating, an executive analyst at Cox Automotive.

Now, in the first week of March, consumers are seeing “war” in the headlines.

“We’ve just had a big weekend of disruption, consumer sentiment has continued to be volatile, and sags quite a bit with a phenomenon we’re calling and others have called ‘uncertainty fatigue,’” Keating said.

That might give consumers pause before buying a new car or pickup — the average price of which topped $50,000 late last year for the first time ever.

Though so far, price alone hasn’t dissuaded many buyers, per Karl Brauer at iSeeCars.com.

“I’ve been amazed at the level of new vehicle sales,” he said. “Vehicles have gotten extremely expensive, and people keep buying them in spite of that.”

Brauer said it’s an effect of the K-shaped economy: “A lot of people can’t afford a new car any longer, but enough can. People who are just wealthy, people who are wealthy and their kids aren’t wealthy, but they help them out, you know — they’re like, ‘I’ll help buy you the car.’”

Meanwhile, tariffs haven’t ended up pushing new vehicle prices much higher, said Michael Brisson, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics.

“Automakers — they did eat a lot of the tariffs,” he said. “They were coming from a very high profit range, so they were able to take a hit to their margins.”

Plus, mortgage rates are down, and tax refunds are up, so consumers may have more room in their budgets for a new ride.