NEW YORK–Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. are expected to close 2020 down at least 15%, which would mark one of the industry's worst annual declines since at least 1980.
Vehicle Sales
But as CNBC reported, “In any normal year, such a rapid fall would have meant an industry in crisis. But in 2020, the overwhelming sentiment is ‘it could have been worse’.”
CNBC reminded that during the first peak of COVID-19 in the Spring, sales of new vehicles collapsed as auto plants shuttered and many dealers were forced to close showrooms. J.D. Power even forecast retail sales would decline by as much as 80% in April, leading to likely near-recession sales levels for the year.
But retail sales to consumers rebounded far faster than anyone forecast, the report stated. Sales during the second quarter declined by about 34%. They were largely driven by rock-bottom interest rates, historically long financing offers and people wanting to hit the open road instead of taking public transportation or airlines, CNBC reported.
"A big comeback story of 2020 is without a doubt the recovery of retail vehicle sales, which have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels," Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds' executive director of insights, told the news outlet.
2020 sales
Edmunds is projecting new vehicle sales to be down 15.5% this year when the final statistics are released in roughly two weeks. That's in line with other industry estimates calling for sales of about 14.4 million to 14.6 million new vehicles in 2020 – down from 17 million in the past five years on average. Cox Automotive is forecasting a 15.3% decline, while TrueCar expects a 15% loss compared with 2019 sales.
Link Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often described as one of the invisible scars that firefighters and others accumulate after years of dealing with trauma in their jobs. Now the scars are invisible no longer. A new tool—the SPECT scan—is offering a new way for firefighters and others with PTSD to visualize their injuries. SPECT stands for single photon emission computed tomography, and it creates 3-D scans of the patient’s brain that look at blood flow and brain activity, KTLA reports. Those scans can then be used to generate a treatment plan tailored to the specific patient based on the visual effects of PTSD. Retired Firefighter-Paramedic Matthew Fiorenza, a PTSD sufferer, told the station that the scans also help make the illness more tangible. “Looking at a picture of my brain, it just took the stigma out of it,” he told KTLA. “It’s like, okay, I’m not crazy.”
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