New car and truck registrations in Colorado ran flat in July, creating room for used car and truck registrations to zoom right by them, according to a report Monday from the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association.
Colorado reported 14,742 new car and light truck registrations in July compared to 14,729 in July 2015, an increase of 0.1 percent, according to data compiled by Experian Automotive. For the first seven months of the year Colorado had 110,336 new registrations versus 110,919 in the same period in 2015, a decrease of 0.5 percent.
Used car and light truck registrations, by contrast, kept advancing. In July, there were 15,526 of those versus 13,818 in July 2015, a robust 12.4 percent increase. Through the first 7 months, Colorado registered 114,686 used vehicle registrations versus 106,239 in the same period of 2015, up 8 percent.
The study looked at used vehicles seven years old or newer. Among that group, three-year-old vehicles had the biggest jump in market share, while 7-year-old cars lost the most market share.
“Colorado new car and truck registrations slipped in July and has somewhat leveled off from previous months increases, which seems to reflect a national trend,” Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, said in a statement.
Nationally, auto sales, measured at an annualized rate, peaked in September of 2015 and have struggled to revisit that high. New car and truck sales have played an important part in the moderate economic gains the country has seen since the recession, one reason economists are keeping a close eye on them.
Through the first seven months of the year, Volvo, Mitsubishi, Fiat, Toyota and Land Rover registrations had the biggest gains, each increasing by more than 9 percent from 2015 levels. By contrast, Chrysler, Dodge, Kia, Volkswagen, Nissan and Infiniti suffered drops of 10 percent or more.
On the used side, Subaru, Jeep and Hyundai had the biggest jump in sales, while Acura, Chrysler, Volvo and Infiniti saw the biggest decreases among the brands that haven’t gone dormant.
Low gasoline prices continue to drive a shift away from cars and towards light trucks and sports utility vehicles. New light truck registrations are up 6.7 percent so far this year, while new car registrations are down 13.7 percent.
