• February 19, 2009

At a time when automakers are desperate for every sale, a remarkable number of shoppers are drifting out of the new car market and purchasing a used car instead, reports Edmunds.com.

It has determined that approximately 511,000 used cars sold in the past three months would have been new car sales in a more normal economy. Projecting ahead, this could represent a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of more than two million vehicles, which equates to more than 15% of total new car sales.

In manufacturing terms, that amounts to about two assembly plants' new car production, reported Edmunds' AutoObserver.com.--Nina Lentini