Page 66 - BusinessWest August 18, 2021

Auto Sales
A Different World
Auto Dealers Adjust to an Unprecedented Mix of Stern Challenges
Auto dealers are used to adjusting to changing economic conditions and fluctuations with the laws of supply and demand. But in recent months, they’ve had to contend with an almost unprecedented mix of challenges — from dwindling inventory to an historic shortage of used cars. There is no real consensus on just when ‘normal’ will return, but all indications are that it won’t arrive until at least the first quarter of 2022.
By George O’Brien
A
s they talked about the past 18 months and what they project for the next few quarters, area auto dealers sounded similar tones and eventually came back to the same word. They are all adjusting.
To be more specific, they’re adjusting to some con- ditions they’ve rarely, if ever, seen before, and all at once. Things like:
• Used cars populating the showrooms. Yes, there have at times been some higher-end used models or a 1930 Model A in the show- room for effect, but now, area dealerships are showcasing cars with ‘2019’ and ‘2018’ stickers on the windshield, out of necessity — because that’s all they have.
• Lots that are half, or more than half, empty. Inventories of new cars are at levels never seen before as factories, confronting an ongoing microchip shortage, struggle, unsuccessfully, to keep up with what has been steady or even better-than-steady demand
Ben Sullivan says an ongoing inventory crisis has forced dealers to place late- model vehicles under the showroom lights.
66 AUGUST 18, 2021
AUTO SALES
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