Page 48 - BusinessWest December 8, 2021

Sports, Leisure, & Auto
Coping with
the Conditions
For Auto Dealers, Things Are Improving,
but ‘Normal’ Is Down the Road
For the area’s auto dealers, this will be a year, and a December, unlike most and certainly not anything approaching normal. Lots are barren, and showrooms often have used cars under the bright lights. Dealers are coping as best they can, and so are customers, and while current conditions are expected to continue into next year, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel.
By George O’Brien
O
actually is, and even have employees park in front to provide that same effect.
He’s only taking the first of those steps, and that’s out of necessity, he said with a voice that hints at frustration, which is certainly under- standable, but mostly acceptance of a situation that is far beyond dealers’ control and some- thing they will have to live with for at least sev- eral more quarters.
The frustration comes from the knowledge that these dealers could certainly sell a lot more cars if they had them, especially given the pent- up demand and the fact that many consumers have money to spend and are eager to spend it. And also the numbers — most dealers are look- ing at overall sales volume being down between 20% and 30% from what would be considered
a ‘normal’ year. The acceptance part comes from the
knowl- Coping
n one wall in his office at the Hyundai dealership that bears his name, Gary Rome has a large screen that displays images cap-
tured by more than two dozen security cameras.
As he talked about the current conditions facing dealers like himself, he gestured toward pictures on that screen of one of the back lots at the massive store on Whiting Farms Road in Holyoke — a barren lot with no cars parked on it.
“Normally ... that would be full — four lanes, full,” he said, noting that ‘normal’ was quite some time ago. Now, instead of normal, there is only reality, in the form of inventory shortages that have, as Rome noted, prompted dealers to put used cars in the showrooms, position cars so it looks like there is more inventory than there
edge that
Continued on page 50
Gary Rome, seen here with ‘Daisy,’ one of his mascots, says cars are moving off the lot as fast as they come in, with most sold long before they arrive.
48 DECEMBER 8, 2021
SPORTS, LEISURE, & AUTO
BusinessWest