General Motors Credit: Bloomberg
A CDK hacking incident likely hampered U.S. auto sales in the second quarter, despite sustained demand and greater supply maintaining new vehicle sales.
Cox Automotive expects second-quarter U.S. new-vehicle sales to rise 1% to approximately 4.2 million units. New car sales rose 16% year-over-year in 2023.
A June cyber incident at retail technology and software supplier CDK affected dealers nationwide, and industry experts expect sales to drop.
“The CDK cyberattacks have thrown a monkey wrench into sales during the second half of June, affecting what is arguably one of the most lucrative and busiest times of the month and quarter for dealerships,” said Jessica Caldwell, analyst at Edmunds.
The CDK outage was the latest issue for US manufacturers, as over 15,000 retail outlets use the retail technology supplier for dealer management software.
Automotive stores and automakers should recover most of July’s sales losses, analysts say.
Automobile manufacturers have benefited from SUV, pickup truck, and hybrid demand. Certain model discounts and incentives have also enticed price-conscious customers.
China’s BYD saw second-quarter sales rise by over a fifth.
GM.N, is projected to lead the quarter, followed by Toyota Motor Cox says North America and Ford .
Some consumers switched from older automobiles to cheaper, feature-packed versions.
Cox remains “concerned” about auto sales growth slowing in the second half of the year due to uncertainties like the U.S. presidential election.
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