Just how bad was the recession for the auto industry?

Just how bad was the recession for the auto industry?

The Economist Magazine this month published a graph that shows how dramatically spending patterns changed in the US during the Great Recession. For those in the auto industry, it confirms what they already knew, auto buying took a hit – as much as any sector in the economy.

The results provide a reliable snapshot of the economic trade-offs Americans were making (i.e., buying more canned vegetables and eating out less), as well as which industries (autos) were taking the biggest hit as consumers redefined their products as less essential.

The nominal numbers refer to the unadjusted overall changes in spending; the real numbers are adjusted for the fact that prices rose by about 5.2% on average, so consumers were getting less for what they spent. The light blue bars indicate the absolute change in what was being spent; the dark blue bars, the change in spending relative to how much was being bought. When adjusted for price inflation, consumer spending overall fell by about 8%.

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