(September 22, 2011) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Atlanta is the hottest U.S. market for new car buyers, reports Edmunds.com.  An Edmunds.com analysis of automotive registration data reveals that new retail car registrations in the Atlanta metropolitan area were 24 percent higher in the first half of 2011, compared to the same period in 2010.

The caveat is that if you sold only one car last year and two cars this year your year over year change would be 100 percent. Although all of the markets in the Edmunds’ analysis are in the top 50 they are not necessarily the markets producing the best sales numbers in regard to total new car volume. 
 
For example, New York which showed only 3 percent growth remained the largest car market in the country. Another example is that Los Angeles while ranked 10th on the list of fastest-growing markets had at a minimum triple the amount of registrations of any of the nine markets ahead of them.

Behind Atlanta, Phoenix was next on the list, recording a 23 percent increase in new car registrations year over year. Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Birmingham, each with a 22 percent increase, round out the top five new car hot spots. Nationally, new retail car registrations have climbed 14 percent this year (this is an important number).

Fastest-Growing New Car Markets (January-July)

Source: R. L. Polk & Co. © 2011 R. L. Polk & Co. All Rights Reserved.
# - Rankings based on top 50 U.S. markets only
+ - Data represents new retail car registrations from January to July in each year

In a newly published update of her 2011 automotive sales forecast, Edmunds.com chief economist Lacey Plache says that early-year momentum in new-vehicle sales nationwide was slowed by disruptions triggered by the Japanese earthquake and other economic headwinds that have hurt consumer confidence.

“Some consumers who deferred purchases earlier this summer are responding to improving vehicle supply and more competitive prices,” said Plache. “But declining economic conditions are keeping other consumers away from dealer lots and will continue to do so at least through the end of the year.”

This analysis is in the face of Ford which is predicting a strengthening of the market for September with a SAAR rating of 13 million units as compared to August with its 12.1 million SAAR.

Edmunds.com also analyzed the slowest-growing new car markets, and while none of the top 50 U.S. markets have regressed in 2011, Detroit has shown the least growth compared to 2010, at just two percent. New York (+3%), Boston (+4%), Miami (+5%) and Providence (+7%) rounded out the bottom five.

Slowest-Growing New Car Markets (January-July)

Source: R. L. Polk & Co. © 2011 R. L. Polk & Co. All Rights Reserved.
# - Rankings based on top 50 U.S. markets only
+ - Data represents new retail car registrations from January to July in each year

 So yes it’s true, Atlanta is the fastest (if not nearly the biggest) growing new car market and Detroit is the slowest growing (but they still outsold Atlanta by about 50 percent) market. But it is still a game of numbers and the only numbers that count for the industry and the health of the economy are the hard numbers; real volume, real dollars.

Sources: Edmunds.com; R.L. Polk & Co. © 2011 R.L. Polk & Co. – All rights reserved. #Rankings based on top 50 U.S. markets only. + - Data represents new retail car registrations from January to July in each year; MotorwayAmerica.com