Maryland consumers tightened their purse strings last month and bought 17.3 percent fewer new cars and light trucks than during November last year, according to figures released yesterday by the state Motor Vehicle Administration.
Last month's sharp decline does not accurately reflect the health of Maryland's auto industry or the state's economy, according to auto officials and at least one economist.
November was actually better than the numbers imply, said John Miller, a partner in Miller Brothers Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Ford and Cadillac in Ellicott City and a director of the Maryland New Car and Truck Dealers Association.
"Our business was not too bad," Miller said. "It only looks bad when you make a mathematical comparison to November of last year, when business was on fire" as a result of aggressive incentives programs.
Said Anirban Basu, director of applied economics at Towson University's RESI economic research institute: "Sales were so strong last year that a 17 percent drop does not suggest the market is weak. It's just a weaker market."
Basu said auto sales across the country have been softening in recent months and "this trend seems to be catching up with us in Maryland."
The 27,812 new cars and trucks sold in Maryland last month marked the lowest November sales volume since 1998, when dealers sold 23,690 vehicles.
Consumers bought 33,641 new vehicles in November last year. That was the highest sales for that month since the MVA resumed releasing registration figures, which equate to sales, in 1991.
Economists view new-car sales as a major economic barometer in measuring the state's financial health.
Last month was particularly hard on the so-called Big Three manufacturers.
"All of the domestic manufacturers had sharp drops in their sales last month," said Jacob J. Cohen, managing director of the auto dealers' group of American Express Tax and Business Services Inc. in Timonium.
He said Ford Motor Co. sales were off 21 percent. At General Motors Corp., the drop was 18 percent, and DaimlerChrysler sales were down 12 percent.
Cohen said the declines could be attributed, in part, to customers' waiting for more exciting incentive programs. He said the auto sales could get worse before picking up again. "Most dealers are gearing up for a tougher year next year," he said.