DALLAS — Comerica Bank's Auto Affordability Index showed the purchase
and financing of an average-priced new vehicle took a little less of median
family income during the second quarter.

Analysts placed the Q2 level at 22.9 weeks as Comerica
indicated that consumers on average spent roughly the same amount on new models
in the second quarter as they did in the first quarter.

"Auto affordability improved by 0.3 weeks of median family
income, but that was not enough to boost auto sales in the second quarter of
2012," explained Robert Dye, chief economist at Comerica Bank in Dallas.

"Tepid job creation and slow-to-moderate income growth in
the second quarter weighed on retail sales, even though interest rates remained
near historic lows," Dye continued.

"Households may be feeling better about unleashing their
pent-up demand for automobiles in the third quarter with August light vehicle
sales rising to a 14.5 million unit annual rate," he went on to say.

Meanwhile, consumer sentiment appears to be improving this
month, an unexpected development according to Bloomberg.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index
of consumer sentiment climbed to 79.2 from the August reading of 74.3. The reading
was projected to fall to 74, according to the median forecast of 71 economists
surveyed by Bloomberg revealed in this report.

"Consumer sentiment has held up," Michelle Meyer, senior
U.S. economist at Bank of America in New York, told Bloomberg before the
index release today. "Sentiment, in the historical sense, is depressed, but we
have not seen a deterioration recently. That goes hand- in-hand with the labor
market, which has been weak but has not collapsed."

And from another perspective
connected to the auto industry, General Motors senior economist Sue Yingzi Su said
during the OEM's Sept. 4 sales call, "The economy has been slowly and gradually
improving. Although we would hope it could increase at a faster pace, we
couldn't deny this increase. Stabilized consumer and business sentiment will be
the major driver to help release the pent-up demand."

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