Greater Cleveland auto dealers see sales uptick in May, but coronavirus recovery is expected to be slow - cleveland.com

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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Auto dealers in Greater Cleveland got hints in May that sales were restarting, but if could be some time before they recover from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sales were up about 10% in May in the region covered by the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association, said Lou Vitantonio, the organization’s president. But April sales were so flat that the uptick was just a start.

“May was still off 22% (from May 2019),” Vitantonio said. His organization represents about 280 dealerships from 23 counties in northern Ohio.

“We are trending toward a slow recovery,” Vitantonio said. “May was better. I think June will be better … We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Auto dealers across the country were hammered by stay at home orders and shutdowns that were put in place in March and shut down much of the economy in April.

In Greater Cleveland, March traditionally is the auto industry’s top selling month, coming on the heels of the Cleveland Auto Show.

Auto title revenue in Cuyahoga County, a barometer of automobile sales, was down nearly 30% from March 2019. April was worse, down nearly 40% from last year.

May was off about 57% from 2019, but title fees were up about 10% from April.

Nationally, Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Hyundai Motor were among the automakers to report double-digit sales declines in May compared to May 2019, CNBC reported. Smaller automakers such as Mazda and Volvo reported slight declines.

But still, as state loosened restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus, there were some signs of improvement in data from industry analysts, CNBC reported.

An analyst for Edmunds told Car and Driver that April clearly was the bottom for sales during the pandemic. May offered some hope, said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights.

Expiring leases could help, Vitantonio said.

“Vehicles are coming due on lease. I couldn’t do a lease in April. I wasn’t ready to do one in May,” he said. Now in June, the hope is people will return to the dealerships.

“It’s about having a comfort level with customers,” Vitantonio said.

If not, the industry could change, too, with dealerships are going to the buyers.

Industry analysists have suggested that as a result of the pandemic, auto dealers could adopt strategies that could allow buyers to handle more of their purchases online and spend less time in showrooms.

Perhaps, Vitantonio said, dealers will deliver cars to homes.

“It’s customer preference. It’s adjusting to the times,” Vitantonio said. “Dealers are good at adapting.”

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Greater Cleveland auto dealers see sales uptick in May, but coronavirus recovery is expected to be slow - cleveland.com
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