For independent dealers, July’s national sales figures point to a market where affordability \u2014 not simple demand \u2014 is driving buyer decisions. As new-vehicle prices and interest rates stay elevated, more shoppers are turning to the used-car lot, and rising off-lease supply is giving dealers fresh inventory to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New-vehicle sales reached an estimated 1.36 million units in July, according to Cox Automotive, translating to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 16.3 million \u2014 the strongest pace of 2026 and up 1.2% from June. Still, the figure landed below early-month forecasts and down 1.8% from July 2025, when expiring EV tax credits had pulled sales forward. Year-to-date, the industry is running at a 16.0 million pace, slightly ahead of Cox’s full-year forecast of 15.82 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The average new-vehicle transaction price hit $49,339, with financing rates near 9.9%, prompting a shift toward smaller, more affordable models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the used side, Manheim’s Used Vehicle Value Index stood at 211.5 in mid-July, up 2% year-over-year but down 0.6% from June. Wholesale supply climbed to 28 days, up 1.5 days from a year ago, as more off-lease vehicles entered the market \u2014 a potential inventory boost for independent dealers heading into fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For independent dealers, July’s national sales figures point to a market where affordability \u2014 not simple demand \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_appearance_grid":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-industry","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7603,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7602\/revisions\/7603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}