Two-thirds of the way through 2018, U.S. auto sales are up 1.1 percent. But, despite a healthy and growing economy, virtually no one who tracks the industry projects the year to end better than 2017.
That means these next four months are shaping up to be a tough slog to the finish line for automakers — and a test of executives' ability to suppress their instinct to open up the incentive spigot as dealership traffic fades. August sales declined just 0.2 percent from a year ago, but that was in comparison to a month when Hurricane Harvey decimated vehicle demand in Texas, and the industry's seasonally adjusted, annualized selling rate fell last month to the lowest level at any point in the past year.