January’s solid start no defence against inflation warnings

New vehicle sales in the US inched up 1% year-on-year (YoY) in January to about 1.15 million units, despite the inclement winter weather. The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales came in at 17.1 million units, in line with most forecasts. "We haven't seen any collapse in sales in the wake of the big holiday selling season we had at the end of December. All the strong economic news continues to translate into strong vehicle sales," commented Charlie Chesbrough, Senior Economist for Cox Automotive.