As car buffs ring in the new year with the 2020 edition of the San Diego International Auto Show with the latest makes and models, the auto industry seems to be going in multiple directions at the same time: sales of sports utility vehicles and trucks continue to surge, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in California are trending up but so is the average price of a new vehicle. "If someone told me, 'I want to be buy a car and I want to keep it for 20 years,' it's kind of difficult to answer because I don't know that we have any idea of what a car is going to look like or how it's going to perform in 20 years," said Richard Newendyke, the auto show's chairman and executive manager at Kearney Mesa Infiniti. "Automobiles are still a very personal selection." For years, sedans have dominated the California auto market. "Cars are king," was a longstanding motto among Golden State dealers but in recent years, SUVs and pickup truck (designated as light trucks in the industry) have moved into the fast lane. Nationally, registrations for SUVs and pickups surpassed car sales years ago and sedans in California managed to hang on to a slight lead. The tipping point came in the second quarter of 2018 when the New Car Dealers Association of California reported registrations of 514,470 in light trucks compared to 512,826 for the first six months of that year.
As car buffs ring in the new year with the 2020 edition of the San Diego International Auto Show with the latest makes and models, the auto industry seems to be going in multiple directions at the same time: sales of sports utility vehicles and trucks continue to surge, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in California are trending up but so is the average price of a new vehicle.
"If someone told me, 'I want to be buy a car and I want to keep it for 20 years,' it's kind of difficult to answer because I don't know that we have any idea of what a car is going to look like or how it's going to perform in 20 years," said Richard Newendyke, the auto show's chairman and executive manager at Kearney Mesa Infiniti. "Automobiles are still a very personal selection."
For years, sedans have dominated the California auto market. "Cars are king," was a longstanding motto among Golden State dealers but in recent years, SUVs and pickup truck (designated as light trucks in the industry) have moved into the fast lane.
Nationally, registrations for SUVs and pickups surpassed car sales years ago and sedans in California managed to hang on to a slight lead. The tipping point came in the second quarter of 2018 when the New Car Dealers Association of California reported registrations of 514,470 in light trucks compared to 512,826 for the first six months of that year.