You won’t like what else he says about car shopping in the future…
If you’ve been waiting for the shortage of new cars to finally end, you might want to buckle down. According to Jack Hollis, executive vice president of sales for Toyota, the problem won’t even begin to wind down until at least a year from now. That’s not what anyone wants to hear and while it’s possible Hollis is wrong in his prediction, it lines up with other estimates we’ve heard recently.
See why Intel’s CEO thinks shortages will last well into 2024 here.
Even as more new vehicles start arriving at dealerships, there could be more market correction needed for supply to return to what we know as normal. Many consumers undoubtedly have been holding off on a vehicle purchase as they see prices soar well past what they would have paid before the shortages. As things even out, those shoppers could help drain supply at least temporarily.
If you’ve been by a dealership lately, you might have noticed the lot isn’t as empty as it was a year ago. While dealers have been able to increase supply slightly, it’s still a far cry from what we would see before the pandemic.
We don’t know what interest rates will be a year from now or what the country will look like economically. Both would have a tremendous impact on how much dealers can restock their sparse onsite supply. Despite all the uncertainties, Hollis told the Automotive Press Association last week he doesn’t think the vast dealer lots packed with vehicles ready to be driven away by customers will ever return.
Hollis believes consumers have been trained to pay MSRP or more for a new car and that “they’re getting very used to an online experience.” In other words, the lockdowns and other strategies used during the pandemic could have a lasting experience on how we all shop for cars going forward. Automaker and dealers must both be loving this realignment since it puts them at an advantage they had always dreamed would come true.
Source: Fox Business
Photos via Toyota
