Day: April 28, 2021

The pandemic car buying rebound is real as sales rocket 110%

By Betty C. Morrow 2 months ago

America is itching for a new car, collectively.


Bloomberg/Getty Images
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It wasn’t hard to imagine substantially better year-over-year sales figures for April, considering much of the US shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but record breaking sales? That’s the expectation, according to JD Power and LMC Automotive’s retail sales forecast, released Wednesday, with an estimated 1,325,500 new cars sold.

April 2021 sales are expected to catapult upward by 110% year-over-year, compared to April 2020 when millions of Americans were under stay-at-home orders and numerous businesses closed their doors. In short, as we wave goodbye to this month, the retail sales figure will go down as the highest ever recorded for the month of April. However, to underscore the excellent sales month, adjusted for the number of selling days, sales are still

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New car or used? Sometimes buying new can be smarter

By Betty C. Morrow 2 months ago

You probably remember your dad telling you to always buy a used car, because they are so much cheaper than new.

That’s not always the case anymore in this topsy-turvy pandemic year.

“We’ve all heard this: ‘Hey, you lose 20-30% of the car’s value when you drive it off the lot,'”said Karl Brauer of the automotive website ISeeCars.com.

But with used car prices at all time highs, Brauer said some used cars are so expensive that the new version can be a better deal.

“With some vehicles, right now the market is such that you are pretty much better buying the new car,” he said.

He cites Tesla as an example. A used version with 10,000 miles on it is valued just 1% less than its brand-new counterparts.

“If it’s 2% cheaper to buy a one-year-old one, why not just just buy a brand new one?” he said.

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Lotus to launch last pure petrol sports car

By Betty C. Morrow 2 months ago
The Lotus Evija hypercar,

Lotus is already experimenting with electrification with its Evija hypercar, which goes into production at the end of the year

The sportscar maker Lotus has announced that a new model, to be called the Emira, will be its last conventionally powered car.

The new design forms part of a major overhaul of the Norfolk-based business, which is controlled by China’s Geely.

Managing director Matt Windle told the BBC it would form a bridge between what he called the analogue cars of today and the digital cars of tomorrow.

The firm wants all its models to be electric in future.

The investment programme orchestrated by Geely, which will see production in the UK tripled, as well as expansion abroad, is expected to cost more than £2bn.

Bond’s company car

Lotus is a brand redolent with heritage. The car company was founded in the early 1950s by the engineer Colin Chapman.

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