#Sales

Like everything else in the modern era, vehicles have become another polarizing issue. The populace is split between gasoline-loving Luddites, endlessly bemoaning the current regulatory landscape and smug EV adopters who proselytize battery-powered vehicles with all the zealotry of a religious fanatic.

There’s plenty of overlap between the two groups. However, they tend to diverge in terms of disposable income, political preferences, and even geography. J.D. Power looked into the latter issue, hoping to identify purchasing trends around the United States. It found that, while EV adoption rates were increasing nationwide, there are plenty of places in America that now appear to be shunning electrified automobiles. 

Those who follow the automotive industry will have undoubtedly noticed that dealer inventories are slowly approaching levels that would have been considered normal before the pandemic. While this is presumably good news for people who have absolutely had it with dealerships marking up their products, some are growing concerned by how much electric vehicle inventories are outpacing their gasoline-reliant counterparts.

Despite elevated fuel prices, aggressive marketing, and most companies vowing to transition toward building electrified automobiles exclusively, America has an EV supply of more than 100 days on dealer lots. That’s about double the average for gasoline vehicles. While it would seem that people are losing interest in battery-driven automobiles, industry experts are claiming that all is not as it seems.

With dealer lots starting to fill back up with product after years of lean inventories that encouraged salespeople to ask for absolutely ludicrous prices, the Federal Reserve has found that lenders are declining would-be borrowers at a record-setting pace. 

The reasons for this are many. Annual percentage rates have come up, requiring consumers to pay more money over time that lenders just aren’t certain they’ll see a return on. More people are also defaulting on loans across the board and inflationary pressures are poised to make the issue worse since the dollar just doesn’t go as far as it used to.  

We reported on auto-loan delinquencies yesterday since they're at a record high, though subprime loans are the biggest cause for concern.

Tesla's growth has cooled.

Ford told investors and analysts today that it expects its electric-vehicle unit to lose $3 billion this year, but that news isn't nearly as dire as it might sound at first glance.

France’s Renault has already announced that it has been considering how best to sell Alpine sports cars in North America and the latest plan appears to involve getting cozy with AutoNation. With no dealer base of its own on our market – and Alpine being an incredibly small brand – leveraging one of the largest used dealer networks in the United States could be an ideal way to get a foot in the door.

Have you ever thought about the resale value of electric vehicles? I admit I haven't thought about it as much as I probably should have. Apparently, I am not the only one who is a bit clueless about it -- it's a market mystery.

Ford has sent a bulletin to dealers telling them to offer customers who ordered a 2023 Bronco a $2,500 discount if they were willing to switch to another model. The reason has everything to do with the automaker’s inability to meet demand.

Axios, the news source for people who like bullet points, has a post out today examining how the pickup truck market has changed over the years, with an emphasis on the shift in consumer preferences from smaller trucks to big, honkin' full-size rigs.

Mr. Guy wrote this morning about Tesla and how it appears that the company's cars are being sold to rental fleets. As most of you know, large fleet sales are often seen as a negative mark on the health of a company and can also tank resale values.

Following up on our sales post from earlier, we look to The New York Times, which has listed several possible reasons for why the numbers are dire.

The reasons are predictable, but that doesn't mean they aren't true.

The Honda Accord and Toyota Camry are old rivals, but the Honda recently got an overhaul for 2023, giving it an edge over its aging competitor. Honda debuted the car late in 2022 and now says the new Accord is hitting dealers’ lots. 

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A line of pickup trucks from Dearborn is the best-selling vehicle in America. There’s a very good chance you have indeed heard this before; after all, it’s been happening for 41 years. 

Alert readers may recall a post just prior to New Year’s about Tesla putting $7,500 cash in the frunk of several models in an attempt to juice sales before year-end. Beyond the irony of that move in the first place, after years of the company and its fanbase raking legacy automakers over the coals for doing the same thing, reports are surfacing that numbers still failed to meet expectations.