Dealers Now Have Nearly Two Million New Cars Sitting On Their Lots

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Dealers Now Have Nearly Two Million New Cars Sitting On Their Lots

Electric vehicles are leading the way when it comes to sitting unsold on dealer lots.

By Andy Kalmowitz
Published Yesterday

New-vehicle inventory at dealers in the U.S. is continuing its slow and steady climb upward as production around the world recovers following the brunt of the pandemic. According to Automotive News, that trend was no different in June, and unsold electric vehicles are a big reason why.

Data from Cox Automotive, reported by Auto News, says that there are an estimated 1,953,512 vehicles sitting unsold on dealer lots right now. That works out to a 53-day supply – which is up 75 percent from the same time just one year ago. It’s also up very slightly from a month earlier when supply stood at 1,928,619 vehicles. Cox reportedly generates this data by looking at the sales rate from the previous 30-day period.

The big reason for this 53-day average supply comes down to one thing: EVs. According to the outlet, those vehicles have a 103-day supply. That makes it the only segment other than ultra-luxury and high-end luxury to have supplies on the other side of 100 days. However, Cox does point out that full-size cars were close at 99 days, but that’s not really that surprising. ... On the flip side of the coin are compact and midsize cars and crossovers. They reportedly have the tightest inventories.

{snip}

So, if you want a deal on the car, we may not be where we were a few years ago, but things are starting to get back to normal-ish.

[marble falls]

1. Two things:

1. Detroit wouldn't know a business cycle if it bit them on the ass, and they sold one to anyone who wanted one last model year?
2. They aren't selling what we want to buy.

They'll be in Washington in a year with their hat in hand asking for a bailout. I hope they all fly in on huge corporate jets and stay in 5-stars so Democrats can rake them over the coals again.

[NNadir]

2. Last year, they wouldn't even take an order for my Camry Hybrid.

I had to check the website of my dealer every day to what's in transit and what has been sold.

It took two months to put a deposit down.

I got the car, eventually, and it's better than advertised; I'm routinely getting close to 60 mpg rather than the 51 mpg advertised, but I drive conservatively and use the automatic cruise control whenever possible. It's a great safety feature, the radar activated cruise control.

However, because they reported a "chip shortage" they only gave one key fob, saying they'd send a second in about two months. It's been 8 months, still no sign of the second FOB. Apparently Toyota owners all over the country are pissed off.

I like the car, and love the fuel efficiency, although I do know how batteries are made, and do feel a little hypocritical and have a sense of guilt for owning one. At least it's not a pure electric, and from an exergy destruction standpoint, since it recovers fossil fuel energy that would have been lost anyway, and does not rely on thermodynamically degraded electricity from the grid.

Most dealers were charging a few thousand extra for "market adjustment fees," but my dealer didn't. I think there's still a wait list for these cars.

[Finishline42]

12. I use to own a Prius

Use to watch the energy graphic that showed where it was coming from and where it was going. Of course when you brake the energy flow was from the motors to the battery. But then there's a lot of time when it was the engine that was charging the battery, even times when I was going uphill and the engine was under a heavy load (didn't make sense to me). But what I couldn't argue with was how they managed the life of that battery. I bought it used and that main battery had over 200,000 miles on it by time I sold it back to the company I originally bought it from.

Last year I worked for a company that transported crews that drove trains. They used Toyota minivans. The 2021's where standard gas models but the 2022's were Hybrid. The energy display was different than what I had on my 2009 Prius. But I would guess the process was the same - the use the engine to charge that battery. I was told Toyota likes to keep the charge between 85% and 35%.

[NNadir]

13. The engine seldom runs when stopped.

It seems to charge when running, although it will go in electric mode for long distances.

It also charges when going down hill, when braking and when coasting.

If I'm approaching a light I coast.

It recoups energy that would otherwise be wasted in exergy destruction.

It's very different than generating thermodyamically degraded electricity on a grid and then degrading the electricity further by storing it a battery, a thermodynamic and environmental horror.

The hybrid does contain cobalt, nickel and other questionable materials and is not sustainable. Of course the car CULTure in which I am a participant isn't sustainable either. In the literature, unless one lives on a nuclear powered grid, hybrids generally have a smaller climate impact than electrics, which are also not sustainable.

If one must have a car, it's probably the best that can be done.

As for my guilt in this bourgeois exercise, I'm rather claiming for myself that it's a serious misdemeanor and not a felony. I am acutely aware of the moral cost of batteries.

[Finishline42]

16. Is it plug in?

How many miles do you drive in a day on average?

The guy that I bought my Prius from (who rebuilt over 700 - most were insurance totals - and is an electrical engineer) told me that even thought the display showed that the battery was being charged when coasting it wasn't more than a trickle charge. He said it wasn't until you used the brakes that it charged the battery significantly. He told me to brake from further away than normal to get the maximum effect from the regenerative braking.

I rented a Tesla Model 3 for a couple of weeks. It was set up in 'one petal' mode. When you let off the 'gas' petal, it started braking significantly. I could feather the gas petal and bring it to a complete stop and then it would go into a hold mode so that even on an incline it wouldn't roll forward or backwards. In normal driving I rarely had to use the brake petal.

BTW, I've had 3 Toyotas, they are the epitome of change the oil and put gas in it. Put 300,000 miles on my 1st Avalon.

[NNadir]

17. No. It's not plug in.

My grid is only 30% nuclear, after Oyster Creek was shut.

I have hopes that someday the used fuel there will be reprocessed here in New Jersey and provide clean energy, but that probably won't happen until the wind garbage has become ugly landfill. Oyster Creek ran for decades, there's probably plenty of used nuclear fuel, probably enough to power New Jersey for decades.

They could almost certainly do this on the Oyster Creek site.

The displays on the Camry Hybrid show the amount being charged, coasting gives a smaller charge rate than braking, but in a thermodynamic sense, coasting is almost certainly better than braking. I suspect that reflecting on thermodynamics while I drive accounts for the fact that I'm getting much better gas mileage than advertised for the car.

New Jersey's electrical grid will not become clean for decades in any case. There's still a lot of antinuke ignoramuses holding sway here. I fight them when I can and how I can.

We have Sierra Club morons in this State who rail against nuclear energy in defiance of the legacy of John Muir. These asses never saw a wilderness that they thought couldn't be rendered into an industrial park. I got into it with the asshole who ran the New Jersey Sierra Club at a public meeting. He was a real ass, Jeff something or another.

They're trashing the coast here with wind turbines, which disgusts me, and there isn't - yet - any talk of replacing the wonderful Oyster Creek nuclear plant.

There are complaints, justifiable in my view, that the destruction of New Jersey's benthic ecosystem to make an industrial park for wind turbines is a bad idea; even claims that the work is killing whales. It could be climate change that's killing them though because the so called "renewable energy" scam has done nothing at all to address climate change; hence our smoky skies from burning Canada.

I wouldn't be caught dead driving a Tesla. They disgust me.

[mitch96]

3. Dodge Chrysler Jeep have a huge inventory....And the largest increase in MSRP of any brand.

They also do this bait and switch thing. They have a high MSRP and then "discount" the car as much as 15k.. But then there is the now prevelent "dealer adjustment fee" which bumps the price UP again...What's that all about.. ?
It looks like Subaru has the lowest increase in MSRP and also some of the lowest inventory. Get'em while there hot...
m

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. With average new car prices north of $40K and average new home prices $400K and ave car payment

(new & used) is > $600 a month there might be some reasons for large inventories of cars maybe???

[Midnight Writer]

6. I used to buy new vehicles, but I have been priced out of the market.

I'll continue to drive my old car, and when it gives up the ghost, I'll shop for something used.

[NoMoreRepugs]

15. Right there with you.

[barbaraann]

5. But minivans are in short supply.

https://www.businessinsider.com/minivans-for-sale-hard-to-find-chip-shortage-potential-comeback-2021-7

Could it be that this is due to the higher number of people living in vans??

[Think. Again.]

7. Finally....

...I know the pandemic messed up supply chains and all that but it's nice to see things getting back to normal.

With this strong supply, we should see retail pricing get back to realistic soon, especially with the model year about to turn.

[CousinIT]

8. I will NEVER buy new again. They lose the most value in 1st 2 years.

I'm hanging onto my 2007 until it's dead. THEN will buy used.

[MichMan]

10. I always buy new and keep them for 12 yrs & 200K plus miles

Works out well for us

[CousinIT]

11. My last new car, I had for 18 years.

It had only 80,000 miles on it, at that (I don't drive much)

[MichMan]

9. Consumers aren't very interested in buying an EV ?

The big reason for this 53-day average supply comes down to one thing: EVs. According to the outlet, those vehicles have a 103-day supply. That makes it the only segment other than ultra-luxury and high-end luxury to have supplies on the other side of 100 days.

[hatrack]

14. They're likely not interested in $65,000 EVs . . . .

Check this list and then let me know how many you find for under $30,000 before the tax credit. Not very bloody many.

https://www.shift2electric.com/evinfolist

[MichMan]

18. But they will buy $60k Pick up trucks and SUV

[hatrack]

19. Far be it from me to accuse American car buyers of so-called "rationality" . . .