Debt is the main roadblock, with surges in credit card delinquencies
BY BOBBY COMMAND
WEST HAWAII TODAY
bcommand@westhawaiitoday.com
New vehicle sales statewide slid in the first half of 2008, and market watchers predict the decline won’t stop until 2010, when a sustained recovery should begin.
However, the sales of hybrids have increased by 15 percent and dealers have also seen an abrupt shift away from SUVs and trucks and toward sub-compact cars.
Hawaii Auto Outlook, which provides information on the Hawaii automotive market, said a number of formidable obstacles have hindered the ability of dealers to sell new vehicles.
“Credit markets remained in turmoil, gas prices moved above $4 a gallon, the unemployment rate increased, consumer spending eased, the demand shifted dramatically away from full-sized trucks and SUVs to small cars,” according to the Hawaii Auto Outlook.
“Not surprisingly, the market has succumbed to this near perfect storm, with new retail light vehicle registrations in the state declining 18.5 percent during the first half of this year versus a year earlier.”
Dave Rolf, executive director of the Hawaii Auto Dealers Association, said the sales of new automobiles is as accurate a reflection of the economy as any.
“The chart looks like the cables on the Golden Gate Bridge,” said Rolf. “It follows the cycle of good and poor economies quite nicely.”
According to Hawaii Auto Outlook, the market will recover … eventually. “The tricky part is pinpointing exactly when the recovery will begin,” it said.
A pair of impediments hold back the market: excessive household debt and the rising cost of fuel.
Debt is the main roadblock, with surges in credit card delinquencies