Auto sales accelerate for Toledo area dealerships

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Maybe it's the weather, or the offers, or just the pent-up demand.

Whatever the reason behind it, auto dealers are basking in the glow of their brightest sales numbers in recent memory, and they say there has been a noticeable thaw in reluctant customers' willingness to buy a new car or truck.

"Business is very good," said John Becerra, general sales manager at Mathews Ford Oregon. "We feel that everything is coming back and there's a recovery, based on the buying habits of the customer. Traffic is up about 25 percent over the last six months, and we should probably hit 200 new and used this month."

March new-vehicle retail sales nationally are expected to come in at 883,300 units, which would translate to an annual rate of 9.9 million units, up more than 20 percent from last month, and 23 percent higher than a year ago, according to J.D. Power and Associates of Westlake Village, Calif.

"There is pent-up demand out there," said Dave Cutting, senior manager of North America forecast with J.D. Power. Customers have been lured back to showrooms by a combination of good weather and incentives, including those offered by Toyota to counter customer concerns about recent recalls, he said.

"Toyota started [the current incentive wars], and the other manufacturers have responded," he said, with no-interest loans and rebates that can lower the cost of ownership by thousands of dollars.

Bob LaRiche, owner of LaRiche Toyota in Findlay, said he's seeing something on his lot that he hasn't seen in months: people walking around kicking the tires.

"I'm 50 percent higher than last month, month-to-date," said Mr. LaRiche, who said he sold 54 new and used vehicles in February, and has sold 43 so far this month, with the busiest time of the month yet to come.

Despite ongoing recalls and repeated news items about the world's largest automaker, Mr. LaRiche said customers are coming in because of the no-interest loan incentives Toyota has placed on eight of its vehicles.

"We're getting a lot of non-Toyota people coming in, a small percentage of people who were sitting on the fence before, but a majority are people just looking for a deal," he said.

New product also is helping some dealers bring people through the door.

"It's the biggest of roller coasters right now," said Greg Dunn, general manager at Dunn Chevrolet Buick in Oregon. "The things that [customers] really seem to be coming in on is the new hot stuff; the [Chevy] Camaro, the Equinox, the Traverse, and the [Buick] LaCrosse. We can't get enough of them."

It's not just retail dealer sales moving up. J.D. Power estimates that fleet sales - sales to companies that buy in bulk, including rental car companies - continue to rise from their historic lows in 2009 and are expected to increase by 13 percent from a year ago to 209,000.

The uptick is good news for a local economy dependent on consumers purchasing new automobiles.

Dave Doster, Jeep sales manager at Yark Automotive Group, said the dealership's Central Avenue store in Sylvania Township sold 120 vehicles in February, and was on track to "probably do 150 to 175 this month."

He said the nicer weather in early March was a factor, but so were the incentives that automakers and dealers were offering.

"There's got to be a pent-up demand out there, and there are some fantastic deals out there," Mr. Doster said. "I think it's really good for the consumer."

Contact Larry P. Vellequette at:

lvellequette@theblade.com

or 419-724-6091.