Houston metro vehicle sales fall further in early ’09

County sales lowest since 1975

Wendy Natt, Mar 24, 09.

From a March 23 Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) email on February vehicle sales in the region:

“The recession and tight credit are ravaging Houston region new car sales. February saw just 13,468 new cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the 10-county Houston metropolitan area, according to the latest TexAuto Facts Report, published by InfoNation, Inc. of Sugar Land, Texas. This is the lowest monthly total in a data series that dates to January ’97, and represents a 44.3 percent drop from February ’08. At 10,741 units, Harris County sales were the lowest February total since ’75.

For the first two months of this year, new vehicle sales in the Houston metro area fell 36.7 percent from the same period last year, marginally better than the nationwide decline of 39.4 percent.

In February, trucks and SUVs accounted for 54.7 percent of unit sales in the metro area - the lowest share since last August, when gasoline prices were considerably higher than they are today.”

See GHP’s complete list of figures for Houston’s key economic indicators.