Motor Vehicle Sales

Categories: Econ, Metrics

Motor vehicle sales represents the total number of motor vehicles...the consumer type, like cars, hatchbacks, minivans, SUVs, and pickup trucks...that are sold in a country every month.

More vehicles are sold in the summer than other times of year, so people don’t get discouraged by poor beginning-of-the-year motor vehicle sales numbers.

Why would they get discouraged? Motor vehicle sales are an economic indicator, one of many that can signal the health of the economy. Motor vehicle sales are a kind of proxy for consumer spending, since they’re such a large part of it—a big ticket item compared to tiny Amazon purchases year-around.

Since new cars are expensive, motor vehicle sales don’t actually go up that much. In 1978, motor vehicle sales were just shy of 15,000. Ten years later, on the eve of the '90s, it was close to 15,500, almost the same as the motor vehicle sales another ten years later. It’s no surprise that we see a sharp drop in 2008, only about 13,200 new vehicles sold. In 2018, we’re normal-ish again, around 17,200.

While Tesla motor vehicle sales are generally trending upward quarter over quarter, most motor vehicles are still gas guzzlers, and sales are lagging. As the economic incentives change...whether imposed by the government or not...we might see some changes in these stats.

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