It will come as no surprise to our readers that sales of automobiles in the U.S. have bubbled over in recent years and stood at a SAAR of 17.7mm units at the end of September. To put that number in context, an assumed 15-year useful life for vehicles would imply that’s more than 1 car for every driving age person in the United States. Obviously that’s likely not sustainable which is probably why Ford executives admitted on a recent conference call that U.S. auto sales have reached a “plateau.”