Massachusetts auto dealers ride out COVID
Posted Feb 17, 2021
It should come as no surprise that COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on the automotive industry, just as it has on others. First, the bad news.
“The coronavirus pandemic certainly impacted new light-vehicle sales in 2020, not to mention the U.S. economy as a whole,” said Patrick Manzi, chief economist for the National Association of Auto Dealers in their analysis of auto sales last year. “Our forecast at the start of 2020 estimated new light-vehicle sales would fall by 1 to 2 percent compared to 2019 for a total of 16.8 million units sold, but once COVID hit, we knew this would be a different year than anticipated.”