Daily Podcast: U.S. Market Stunned by Plunging SUV, Pickup Values
Automotive News [sub] reports that the perfect storm TTAC predicted last year is now a howling hurricane. "In June, used full-sized pickups sold at auction for an average price of $8,740 — a 25.4 percent decline from June 2007, according to auction company ADESA Inc. The average wholesale price of large SUVs plunged 27.5 percent to $10,577." Some say the worst is over. Tom Webb, chief economist for auction company Manheim, claims "wholesale prices of large SUVs appear to have reached bottom, while inventory of used large pickups needs to thin before prices stabilize." Appearances can be deceiving. While there may be a blip in light truck sales– as "bargain hunters" scoop-up cheap-as-chips vehicles– it's a dead cat bounce. The demand for pickups and SUVs has virtually disappeared. And there are millions of people who would get out of their gas-hungry vehicles if they could. But they can't. In short, as Frank reported in his June BTN, we've not seen the end of this downturn. TTAC's seemingly endless liturgical litany may sound as bleak as a Russian novel, but reality makes it so. Did you know that Russia considers Chekhov's supposedly dark dramas comedy? And anyway, when the going gets tough, the tough aren't phased.
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good time to buy one! honestly i cant believe that anyone who bought one of these things didnt know that this was coming. And I agree with the writer who suggested that owners just slow down a little to save gas - around here, people have not slowed at all - so the same knuckleheads who bought these things in the first place, are now panicing about them, not slowing down at all -taking a bath on getting rid of them. like i said, a good time to buy. PS most of the crossovers i see do not get much better mileage than their bloated brothes. PT Barnum was right...
Just this week I read a story in a Dutch newspaper about Tjechov in a piece about the Sachalin oil fields and now here again (assuming it's the same guy). Weird... or maybe not Anyway, I think the new New Mini diesel is not that bad. The previous one was, that had a Toyota 1.4, but the new one has a PSA/Ford joint developed 1.6 110HP I4 that is sold in about a million different models in Europe, for instance The Cooper D, Volvo C30/S40/V50, Eurofocus, Peugeot 308, Citroen C4 etc. For the Mini (MINI) it's quite a good match, it gets very decent mileage and runs quite smooth (strong point of PSA diesels). Obviously it's not the sportiest engine, but what it should do it does quite well.
Hmm... Vaal and SUV's; both with voracious appetites -- now I see the connection!