It’s hard to say whether there’s a direct link between the strong surge in April car sales and the four-year high the Dow Jones industrial average is on track to set today, but both are clearly delivering a dose of much-needed news about an uncertain economic recovery.
With the last few automakers finally reporting, the industry appeared to continue gaining momentum despite worries about fuel prices and other economic issues. General Motors boosted its forecast for all of 2012 by a full 500,000 vehicles, to somewhere between 14 million and 14.5 million.
That’s despite the fact that both GM and Ford posted modest declines for April — as did Asian rival Nissan — but the slowdown in sales that some feared after the unusual warm winter clearly didn’t materialize. And a number of makers, including Audi and Volkswagen, are today bragging about setting records. VW sales were their best in 40 years, Audi their best ever for the month.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member