Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at the Westlake Village, Calif., company, said consumers are responding to a slight increase in incentive spending. "Even if the deals aren't as strong as they have been in the past, consumers may be grappling with the notion that these deals are as good as they're going to get. In addition, an increase in maturing leases and a less attractive used car market may be contributing to higher sales volumes," he said, in a release.
The firm says the rest of the year will be volatile, and has revised downward its prediction for the year to 9.4 million units for retail sales from 9.5 million units and 11.7 million units for total sales from 11.8 million units.
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