Maryland's long-running new-car sales boom continued last month, but there are some indications that rising interest rates are beginning to rob the industry of some of its get-up-and-go.
According to registration figures compiled by the Motor Vehicle Administration, new-car sales rose 5.9 percent, to 26,978 last month, compared with the previous November. While that kept intact an 18-month string of higher sales, it's a far more modest pace than the double-digit gains of the spring and early summer.
Consumers paid more, too. The average price was $19,113 -- $1,262 above the average new vehicle price last year.
Michael Conte, director of regional economic studies at the University of Baltimore, said auto sales have been strong in Maryland for a long time, but he warned that this trend could be coming to a close.
With the exception of October, when sales zipped up nearly 41 percent, Mr. Conte noted that new- vehicle shipments have posted gains of 6 percent or less since August. He attributed the exceptionally strong October to commercial fleet sales.
"It seems like the rise in interest rates is finally being felt," Mr. Conte said. He predicted that new-car dealers will continue to post sales increases, but at a more moderate rate than the 16 percent pace of the first eleven months of 1994.
Mr. Conte said that in addition to boosting the cost of financing a new car by $30 to $35 a month, higher interest rates have added about $100 to the monthly payment of homebuyers with adjustable-rate mortgages. "This is cutting into their discretionary income and it's going to make it harder for them to buy a new car."
Bruce R. Mortimer, president of Anderson Automotive Group, which owns a cluster of dealerships in the area of Howard and 25th streets, said "people are still buying," but he, too, wondered how long the good times will last. Anderson sells Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Buick and Honda cars and GMC trucks.
Not all dealers in the state shared in last month's modest sales increase.
Andrew Dixon, president of the Ken Dixon group of dealerships in Waldorf that sell Chevrolets, Cadillacs, Buicks, Geos, Hondas and Mazdas, said his business was off last month and is currently running behind last December's pace.
Used-car sales were up 4.8 percent last month, compared with the same period last year.