Titling of autos up a bit in state

LITTLE ROCK — New-vehicle registrations in Arkansas rose slightly in January compared with a year ago, the fourth-consecutive month of increases, an automotive research firm said Wednesday.

There were 5,865 such registrations in Arkansas last month, up 0.8 percent from 5,818 in January 2010, according to Cross-Sell of Lexington, Ky., which receives the state’s information from the Office of Motor Vehicle.

The trend is “consistent with what we’ve seen broadly on the national level. Throughout the course of 2010 there were slow but steady increases in auto sales nationwide,” said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Nationally, new vehicles sold at an annual rate of 12.6 million in January, the highest level since the federal government’s “cash for clunkers” stimulus program in 2009.

The pattern suggests consumer optimism, Pakko said.

“It’s a big commitment to lay down that much money for one specific item,” Pakko said.

One out of every four new vehicles registered last month was a full-size pickup. The top four models in registrations were all pickups, led by the Ford F series.

“Pickups and [sport utility vehicles] are always the product leader in Arkansas,” said Dennis Jungmeyer, president of the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association. “Even with gasoline moving up, it doesn’t make much impact [on truck sales]. I think if [gasoline] hit $4 [a gallon], people might start looking at smaller vehicles.”

Chevrolet was the market leader in new-vehicle registrations, with 1,109 titles, or almost 19 percent of the market. Ford was second, followed by Toyota.

Used-vehicle registrations from auto dealerships totaled 9,041 in January, up slightly.

There were 17,291 titles issued in private-party transactions last month, up 3 percent.

Slow but steady sales increases are expected to continue this year and into 2012, Jungmeyer said.

“I think [dealers’] attitudes are really positive about the future,” Jungmeyer said.

The number of vehicles titled in a month normally is different from the number of sales in the same month, Cross-Sell said. The reason is that there is up to a 30-day lag between the purchase of a vehicle and the Arkansas deadline for registration.