Arkansas new-vehicle registrations dropped 9 percent in May compared with May last year, but the number of titles issued is still among the highest in five years, a Kentucky firm that provides analysis for the auto industry said Thursday.
There were 9,231 new vehicles registered in the state last month, down from 10,173 registrations in May 2012, the highest total in five years, said Cross-Sell of Lexington, Ky. Last month’s total was the fifth-highest since Cross-Sell began providing data in May 2008.
“The fact that [May’s registrations] were up there among the highest we’ve seen since the recession is a further indication that the recovery in auto sales has matured,” said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Registrations have risen by 20 percent or more for several months over the past couple of years. Those high growth rates aren’t likely to show up in coming months, Pakko said.
“We shouldn’t expect the kind of strong recovery-related gains that we had been seeing in the past,” Pakko said. “Going forward, we should expect more routine, modest growth, especially in this relatively slow expansion. But from time to time, you’re going to see a couple of down-ticks.”
Nationally, there were more than 1.4 million new vehicles sold last month, up about 8 percent from May last year. At May’s pace, that is the same as seasonally adjusted annual sales of 15.2 million vehicles, up from a 13.9 million sales pace for May last year.
Some Arkansas dealers are having problems with “spotty inventory,” said Dennis Jungmeyer, president of the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association.
“But that’s just a catch-up problem,” Jungmeyer said.
After Chrysler and General Motors closed about two dozen dealerships in Arkansas in 2009 and 2010, the number of dealerships in the state has stabilized, Jungmeyer said.
There may be attrition with a few dealerships closing in the next three to five years, Jungmeyer said.
“But we don’t really expect any major changes,” Jungmeyer said. “Nothing as dramatic as what we saw [in 2009 and 2010].”
For the first five months of the year, new vehicle registrations in Arkansas are up almost 5 percent to 40,651.
In Arkansas, auto registrations aren’t equivalent to vehicle sales each month.
Buyers have up to 30 days after purchase to register the vehicles. So, many registrations in May were for vehicles bought in April.
The number of auto sales in Arkansas each month is not available from the state unless a substantial fee is paid to cover agency expenses, the Office of Motor Vehicle says.
There were 13,650 used vehicles registered by Arkansas auto dealers last month, down almost 10 percent from 15,158 titles in May last year.
Another 21,960 used vehicles were registered last month after private sales, down 13 percent from 25,334 in May 2012.
Business, Pages 28 on 06/21/2013