Area auto dealers keep inventory moving
Expert: Higher demand for leased vehicles expected
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Cost continues to be the main selling point in dealerships across northern Ohio, and 2025's numbers back it.
Dealers reported 229,118 new cars, trucks and SUVs were sold in 2025, and, compared to 2024, sales growth rounded out the year ahead by 4.52%, according to data reported in January by the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers' Association, a nonprofit organization that represents franchised car dealerships in northern Ohio.
The organization covers more than 250 motor vehicle dealerships in a 21-county region -- including Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
Louis Vitantonio Jr., who has served as the association's president for the last 16 years, said new car sales did well in the Mahoning Valley at 5.8%, adding that it came close to the organization's larger space in the northern part of the state, which did around 6.16%.
"Obviously, the Valley in the 24 counties, 25 counties that we measure because of our membership, cutting across (it) is a thing," Vitantonio said. "We beat the national averages, which I think in the nation in total we're around 2.3% over 2024, so I think we're doing better than the nation."
Vitantonio said as far as 2026 is concerned, he sees it being "very, very similar" to 2025 -- noting vehicle affordability and its aspects as the main contributing factor.
"Not only the price of the vehicle, but the carrying cost; the interest rates, even though they've been lowered a little bit or have gone down, they're still high," Vitantonio said. "Yes, you can write off your loan interest -- that's something that's pretty narrow, it can help. But at the end of the day, affordability is number one."
Vitantonio said dealers saw a big push in 2025's fourth quarter as EV subsidies, financial incentives provided by governments to lower the cost of buying and owning an electric vehicle, began to be phased out.
"As those EV tax credits were expired or expired, we saw a push for EVs along with internal combustion engines (ICE) that brought attention to purchasing a vehicle in the last quarter of 2025," Vitantonio said. "I think we'll see 2026 is a similar sales pace as 2025, and it all comes down to affordability, which are the other items we talked about."
Vitantonio said he expects the affordability factor to push customers to leases, a more affordable and manageable monthly payment, regardless of not being in an ownership position.
He said he expects it to also pressure the used car market, too.
"People are looking for certified pre-owned vehicles, current or previous model years maybe that are three to four years old that have extended warranties through the certified pre-owned programs," Vitantonio said. "They make sense for some people to get into a vehicle a little bit more affordable or within budget. Not to say that we won't have new car sales."
Toyota of Warren underwent an ownership change when it was sold last April to Rafih Auto Group for $4.6 million, and Tino Merlo, the dealership's general manager, recalled some of the biggest changes that came with the deal.
"The daily attention to detail, reports -- deep diving on a daily basis instead of a monthly basis. We do it daily, and we do it by segment," Merlo said. "We really drill down daily. We don't wait till the end of the month to see where we're at -- we want to know where we're at daily, and so that we can improve."
Merlo said that while Rafih Auto Group is massive, the atmosphere in the building under Terry Rafih and his two sons makes it feel like a family dealership.
Merlo, who noted around the time of the acquisition that the dealership's inventory would increase, said it increased by about 30% -- going hand-in-hand with an increase in sales and concluding 2025 as the top dealership in Trumbull County in monthly sales, 148 in December.
"A lot of that's predicted by the manufacturer on production. The way Toyota works is, the more you sell, the more cars you get," Merlo said. "Based on what's available in production, the more cars we sell, the more cars we get. Therefore, we've been selling more cars, so we're getting more cars."
"You earn cars by selling cars through Toyota; Toyota's not a stockpile manufacturer, they build as you sell."
With Toyota's broad range of hybrid vehicles and a strong demand for them across the U.S., Merlo said they see numbers similar to the national average, approximately 50%.
"We spend a lot of time educating people on hybrid (vehicles), because a lot of times when people hear hybrid, their first instinct is, 'I don't want to have to plug anything in,' Because everybody's so hung up on hearing everything about electric cars," Merlo said. "As soon as you tell somebody that they don't have to plug anything in -- especially the older population -- that changes people right away."
"A lot of people aren't educated on hybrid, and they don't know how it works, and they don't realize they just put gas in it and go. The vehicle does everything itself by regenerating power through the braking system."
Hearing perks such as the eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the vehicle's battery also brings potential buyers comfort, he added.
Merlo said the dealership's high number of sales means more fresh local trade-ins, which aligns with its high customer retention.
"Most of the trade-ins we take are locally owned -- cars that are serviced here, that were bought here, more traded here," Merlo said. "That actually gives us a pretty large inventory of quality used cars."
"A lot of people want to know where the car came from; a lot of dealers will buy cars at an auction in New York, an auction in New Jersey, or an auction in Texas. We pride ourselves on almost all of our cars being fresh, local trade-ins."
In terms of what will keep Toyota of Warren at the top for 2026, Merlo said transparency and their long-standing team of employees will make it possible, going back to that family-like feeling.
"Having the employees that have all been here for a long time, the majority of our employees have been here for three years or more -- some of them up to 40," Merlo said. "Obviously, myself and a couple others, there's up to 40 years of employment at this dealership -- it's the employees that kind of make it."