Vehicle Sales: 2022 Could End Up Worse than 2020 Pandemic Year

In 2020, year one of the current pandemic, economies around the world essentially shut down, and auto sales dropped dramatically. 2021 saw a partial rebound, but the increase was not as high as some had hoped.

That was due to several, interrelated factors: off-and-on tightening of health-related restrictions around the globe due to successive waves of Covid-19, and then the microchip shortages and supply chain issues that came in their wake.

More-optimistic observers were predicting a return to at least near-normalcy in 2022, but the supply-chain problems are more acute than ever. Manufacturers are being affected on several levels and the automotive market has never been crazier. As a result, automotive inventories are at an all-time low.

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This has led the Cox Automotive Group industry analysis and prediction firm to once again lower its forecast for full-year 2022 U.S. vehicle sales. The same is true for Canada.

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