"The COVID-​19 pandemic struck the world with both swiftness and might. No industry has been immune to its impact, including the automotive sector. Despite forecasts predicting a decline in light passenger vehicle sales for the year (25- 30% in the U.S. and 20 — 25% globally), there is some potential good news on the horizon for the auto industry," says Ipsos. Americans now want to buy vehicles.

Although they were scared to make purchases during the COVID-​19 outbreak, Americans who had wanted to buy vehicles before the pandemic broke out are even more interested in buying a new vehicle now. Why? They're even more invested in personal safety and protection than before.

According to Ipsos, 55% of consumers say that, if they buy vehicles, it will help them feel safer until the virus clears up completely and 25% are anticipating great deals on vehicles post-COVID-19.

Dealerships should keep in mind that many of these shoppers are expressing an interest in doing their shopping online.

Last month, according to AudienceSCAN, 55.7% of New Car/​Truck Shoppers used an internet search engine to research a product they were considering. While they were online, 36.6% took action after seeing a sponsored search result.

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. In addition, AdMall contains industry profiles on auto dealerships (all makes) and used car dealers, as well as lead lists at the local level. Media companies, sales reps and agencies can access this data with a subscription to AdMall from SalesFuel.