The auto sales race that began in late September with the firing of the zero percent interest starter's pistol is slowing to a trot as the finish line draws near, but 2001 still looks to become the second best year on record, according to an Associated Press story by Ed Garsten.

Theories differ, however, on the effect of the finance incentives that were introduced to reignite sales in the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. One theory is the "pull-ahead" effect. The programs were so successful, they stole or pulled ahead sales from December and beyond, according to a report released Jan. 2 by Merrill Lynch

analyst John Casesa.

Casesa expects December sales figures, to be released Jan. 3, will show a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate that's about flat

compared with last December, although markedly slower than this past October and November.

But Art Spinella, who heads CNW Marketing/Research of Bandon, Ore., which publishes a monthly sales analysis, discounts the pull-ahead effect. Spinella says he believes zero percent financing actually brought 400,000 people into showrooms that would not otherwise have been in the market for a vehicle.