Why Americans stopped buying cars

The slowdown in auto sales, explained

Cars sit in a lot in New York.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

After years of steady growth, America's automaking industry is in a rut.

Both car sales and employment in auto manufacturing collapsed after the Great Recession, falling by a third or more. But then both trends began relentless upward climbs that lasted for years. Until recently, that is.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.