The latest industry forecast shows that as chip shortages continue to affect production, car sales in the US will decline sharply in September, leading to a 13-14% drop in new car purchases in the third quarter.

Cox Automotive, Edmunds, and J.D. Power/LMC Automotive predicts that the number of cars sold in the US from July to September will be less than 3.4 million units, a decrease of 13% to 14% compared to the sluggish sales volume affected by the pandemic in the same period last year. Among them, sales are expected to drop 24% to 26% in September.

Parts shortages have forced automakers to shut down plants for weeks or even months on an irregular basis. Underproduction combined with strong consumer demand has caused US car inventories to fall to record lows, and there has been a strange phenomenon where the price of used cars is higher than new models.

Cox Automotive analysts predict that car supply will improve slightly in the fourth quarter and continue to improve in 2022, but will not return to “normal” until 2023. Automakers have pledged to maintain lower inventories in the future to boost car profits and prices.

J.D. Power expects the average transaction price of cars to reach a record $42,802 in September, exceeding $40,000 for the fourth month in a row.