According to reports, November auto sales hit record numbers. New-car sales last month benefited from Black Friday deals, low gasoline prices, and low financing costs, analysts report. Auto makers overall delivered a 1.4% increase over the same month last year, offsetting what is typically a slow month for the industry, bringing numbers to 15.82 million vehicles sold through November.
Last month’s auto sales show an upward pace that is tracking to be among the best in U.S. history, and the numbers have raised optimism. “There is a lot of inventory and auto makers are going to come out with guns blazing,†Ernie Boch Jr., chief executive of Boch Automotive, a Norwood, Massachusetts dealership, told The Wall Street Journal. “Right now, I don’t see any signs of [demand] letting up.â€
The numbers also came at a time when House Republicans are working to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s efforts to regulate the $900 billion auto finance industry via a bill they voted to pass last month. The Obama administration oppose the bill saying it would revoke “important guidance designed to prevent discriminatory pricing of auto loans,” Reuters reports.
The “Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act” would revoke guidance issued in 2013 by the CFPB that helps to ensure customers are not charged disproportionately higher prices for auto loans because of their race, color, religion or other characteristics that should have no bearing on loan decisions, the White House said.