NEW YORK, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Automobile sales in the United States are expected to decrease 2.1 percent year on year to 16.9 million units in 2019, according to Thomas King, senior vice president of data and analytics division with market information service provider J.D. Power.
In particular, retail sales of automobiles are expected to fall 2.3 percent to 13.6 million units in 2019, King said Tuesday at industry event Automobile Forum.
King said the performance of U.S. automobile sales in the rest of 2019 would be broadly the same as that in the first quarter of 2019, with the stability of Federal interest rate being a positive factor.
In the first quarter, automobile sales totaled 3.9 million units, down 1.7 percent, according to J.D. Power.
Still, the health of automobile industry is not solely defined by the annual sales pace and the performance of U.S. automobile industry is surprisingly strong in the first quarter, according to J.D. Power.
Profits with U.S. automobile retailers would be at record high or near record high in 2019, said J.D. Power.
U.S. automobile retailers offered less incentives and sales of used cars registered 5.1 percent of growth in the quarter, according to King.
