mmarshall

I hope this isn't a repost. Just an unbelievable picture of acres of new vehicles sitting on the dock that no one is buying.


Looks like they are all painted the same colors, too.....black, white, gray, and dark red.

https://time.com/5830664/cars-cargo-...5pj-gFWpCk6w0I




An aerial view shows cars that were offloaded from ships at Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) as the spread of the coronavirus pandemic cripples the economy on April 26, 2020 in Wilmington, California. The sudden high unemployment crisis is hitting car sales as travel restrictions and widespread social distancing measures continue across most of the nation to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

David McNew–Getty Images

Toys4RJill

Not quite surprised. The US is in a mega recession at the moment.

ABC

I'm surprised we aren't seeing crazy deals on cars yet. Lots of 0% financing, which is great, but i expected there would be easily 10%+ discounts right up front on both used and new. With 30+ million people losing their jobs over the past 5 weeks, it's surprising to see prices hold steady.

mmarshall

Look past the trees at the forest. The automakers are (probably) keeping prices steady in the hope that there will be another Cash-For-Clunkers program, with Uncle Sam and the taxpayers footing the bill.

Fizzboy7

Auto manufacturers usually react sooner than later to big crisis's like these. They don't wait around or hope for bailouts, they react by cutting production and lowering prices. As usual, it's mostly the big three offering all the sales, and the better selling import brands only offering better APR and lower monthly lease deals.

I think everything is in a holding pattern until local governors give the green light to open retail again. Opening retail is key to all of this. Once that happens, and here in CA it should be in a week or two, there should be some pent up demand to be met. I will predict some decent initial sales volumes coming once things reopen, then an overall downturn in business as people struggle to get back to work and save up money lost while not working.

LeX2K

The nearly monochrome trend is more disturbing to me than unsold vehicles.

pbm317

Part of that is because discounts have already been sky high, avg incentives are already over 10% of MSRP for the industry. The 30 million people losing their jobs aren't rushing out to buy new cars.

More people have also already elected to put off car purchases due to the chaos going on and uncertainty.

I'd rather see automakers use this time to right size production and find more sustainable, seemingly organic sales rates rather than continuing to pump the incentive well and try to maintain annual sales above 15 to 16 million units.

coolsaber

1) The typical mindset is recession = great deals for everyone in the market. What I have actually seen through a family member in the market who has kept up pricing but is holding back is that their price sheet received mid to end of march was WAY better in terms of pricing april and I assume May since incentives remained the same.

2) That story is interesting as its basically on almost every car forum you can think of. Some dealers are chiming in with some insights. The consensus thus far in regards to the imported inventory at the ports:

Volvo = left at port
Audi = Left at port
Mercedes = took them
BMW = took them
LR = left them
Lexus = took them
Nissan=left at sea

RNM GS3

So far I’m not seeing any amazing deals on sports cars.

Let’s share here and post.
I may be in market lol....

EZZ

The Supra is a lateral move...i think you need C8 after an M3

RNM GS3

Ye i posted about Supra and was not impressed.

C8 is definitely in consideration but i want to wait a few years for them to sort out issues plus i hear Z06 will come with NA 5.5L flat plane crank V8.

I would Love to get a 991.2 Porsche GT3 but prices are still over $135k on the 2018s.
New Cayman GT4 has me very interested or GTS. Issue with Porsche is dealers play games and getting allocations is a nightmare.

Most realistic scenario is to get a GT350 to replace my BRZ but Ford dealers don’t seem motivated.

Open to suggestions and great deals.

coolsaber

Depends on whole lot of variables, but if you need a gt i`d wager the 8 Series may be a good look. They priced their "6 series replacement" out of this world soo.

JTMav

Could it be that there are, at least right now, zero new car manufacturing being done? It’s not like there’s a ton more new vehicles in the pipeline. New car purchases with 30 million people out of work are not going to be much a anyway. This situation will leave a longer term level of uncertainty which is never a good backdrop for large purchasing decisions.

coolsaber

Depends on the mfgs. It seems as though mfgs are shutdown, or they`ve reduced some days or lines.

Dealer councils and their analytic teams are using the same buzzwords on their monthly newsletters: PENT UP DEMAND...
I`m predicting they`re no longer interested in heavy incentives. Just shutdown plants and control supply

RNM GS3

I saw that BMW performance center in South Carolina is opening back up in May for driving events and new car delivery.

So factories should be back up and running very soon in states that have not had significant issues with virus.