Volkonski wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:55 am
A local Ford dealer's radio ads are warning that some models are already sold out for the year. They list the models that can still be ordered but warn they could sell out soon.
Don't know if this is a local problem or a nationwide issue. May be related to the news reports that Ford has thousands of nearly finished vehicles waiting for chips.
This is a nationwide issue. St. Louis Fed data shows that vehicle sales were bad in September-December, but started to move up as there has been some improvement in chip deliveries, but it's far from what it should be. Probably another year before supply chains completely recover.
So my guess is that they're running ads to set consumer expectations appropriately. Honesty is a nice touch -- get the people on the lot who are looking for the cars you have, even though you must admit that you don't have all the cars people want... At least you'll get the buyers out of their houses who think there are no cars at all, which was the case for much of last year. I suspect a lot of people still think there are exactly zero cars in inventory, which is no longer the case.
I sometimes drive past a BMW dealer that in normal times has ~200 new cars and ~100 used cars on the lot. For much of 2021, they had zero new cars and only about two dozen used cars on their lot at any one time... I'm surprised they stayed in business. They now have maybe 50 new cars and a similar number of used cars.