Critics are once again predicting the US auto industry is going to tank, but they should be careful of what they wish for. (GM, F, FCAU)

Ford

• For 2018, automakers again posted near-record US sales.
• The 17.3-million total marked the fourth straight year that the total has come in above 17 million — an unprecedented boom.
• The news was greeted, as it has been for several years, by a round of doomsaying about the 2019 market.
• Naysayers have been wrong about a sales downturn for years, but they continue to push a negative outlook.

Automakers reported December and full-year auto sales for the US on Thursday, and they were robust. The total for 2018 was 17.3 million new vehicles, slightly beating 2017's tally and marking the fourth straight year that automakers have notched a result above 17 million.

The news was almost immediately followed by a quick round of commentary about how the good times are finally over. Bloomberg's "Don’t Be Fooled: The US Auto Sales Party Is Coming to an End" headline was emblematic. Everything from excessive reliance on "fleet" sales to rental-car companies to rising interest rates to the ebbing effects of the Trump tax cut were cited as reasons for the market to slide in 2019.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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from Business Insider https://read.bi/2TyDzCr