The auto industry could break sales records yet again. But analysts say the decline is coming.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Automakers are on the cusp of a second record-breaking year for sales as dealers made an end-of-year push to empty their lots over the weekend. But even as the industry hopes to let the confetti fall on 2016, it must brace for a slowdown that analysts project will come to a head in the new year.

Many analysts anticipate a photo finish when carmakers report their annual hauls on Jan. 4, with some forecasting that 2016 will edge out the previous year’s sales of 17.5 million autos by as few as 5,000 vehicles. If those projections prove true, 2016 would mark the seventh consecutive year of rising automotive sales.

“This [streak] has been pretty much unprecedented, at least in the modern era of new vehicle sales growth,” said Karl Brauer, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

But even if the sector breaks sales records again, most analysts say that its run is all but done.

After so many years of sales growth, the ebb and flow of the market cycle suggests the industry is due for some contraction. What’s more, automakers may have finally exhausted the pent-up demand for new cars that went unfulfilled during the depths of the recession, when many consumers were out of work or deferring big-ticket splurges, analysts say.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/01/02/the-auto-industry-could-break-sales-records-yet-again-but-analysts-say-the-decline-is-coming/?utm_term=.ace8dd8d3550&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1#comments

[LonePirate]

1. As cities and ride share services continue to grow, demand for cars will drop.

Of course public transportation needs to keep up with urban growth which unfortunately has not happened for the most part.

[Johnathan146]

2. Or self driving cars

I could see a family that can usually get by with one car keeping a second for security

If one spouse is at work and one is at home, and the one who is home needs the car, they can request it on their phone app. They use the car, and when they are done they send it back to work.

[LonePirate]

3. Very good point. That might be the greatest demand deflator of them all.