According to the latest Hawai‘i Auto Outlook report, new car sales have declined over 20 percent through September of this year, which is more than the national average decline of 13.7 percent. There were nearly 35,000 new vehicle registrations in the state of Hawai‘i through September, down from nearly 44,000 at the same time last year. While O‘ahu saw the least decline—down about 17 percent—the biggest drop was seen in the Maui market. New registrations on the Valley Isle totaled 3, 956 according to the report, down 28.3 percent from last year’s 5,515 registrations. Outlook cited rising unemployment, rising fuel costs, unstable credit markets and increased economic problems as major issues that resulted in spending declines.