[dnissley]

The car market right now makes no sense to me. Interest rates are high, prices are high (inflation + tariffs), unemployment is rising, inventory is low, and yet car sales are booming? What gives? People panic buying before tariffs have a bigger impact?

[fzeroracer]

It's more that in America, cars are for the most part an inelastic commodity. It's very, very hard to hold a job and maintain your life without a car except in the densest of metro areas. Since the population is still growing, sales of cars keep going up and people get trapped in predatory loans or conditions. Used cars are also harder to find and more expensive, which pushes people into these predatory conditions.

I think it's a really poor indicator for the future. America literally cannot function without cars, and if people cannot afford cars they cannot afford to work.

[apsec112]

A ten year old Honda Fit is like $12K, pretty fuel efficient, and probably reliable and low-maintenance (I owned one until recently). People aren't buying $50,000 new Ford F-150s because they just need a working car to go to work and the grocery store.

[carabiner]

It's millennials moving out of cities into the suburbs and deciding they need a car. Guess what the bestselling car in the US? Toyota RAV4.

[freddie_mercury]

The Ford F-series and Chevy Silverado both outsold the RAV-4 by significant margins.

Also the RAV-4 isn't a car, it is an SUV.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/best-selling-cars-us-h1-202...

[FirmwareBurner]

> and yet car sales are booming? What gives?

Maybe some people need a car to get to work, plus maybe they also want good optics with it, not wanting to be perceived as "broke" by the rest, so they splurge on a new car without any thoughts on financial responsibility just to keep up appearances.

[close04]

It’s the optics part that breaks the camel’s back. Any decent car goes from A to B. Only expensive cars have the “optics”. The car is a status symbol that carries you around, and the poorest are the most “vulnerable” to need such a status symbol to compensate.

It mirrors perfectly the luxury fashion industry where more branded merchandise is bought by broke people than by rich ones (unbranded luxury goods are a different beast).

[rsynnott]

> plus maybe they also want good optics with it, not wanting to be perceived as "broke" by the rest

I mean, really, who is even looking?