Vehicle Sales Continue Their Depression

Anyone want to buy a vehicle? A better question might be: anyone got a vehicle for sale? Whether because of supply side issues, demand side issues, other issues, or all of the above, the fact remains that the first quarter of 2022 was not a good quarter for vehicle sales. Just ask the manufactures who saw double digit drops in new light-vehicle sales: 23% for

Some other interesting tidbits from sales data:

of Toyota’s total sales for the first quarter;
— the highest level ever; and
Semiconductor chips continue to be the holy grail for auto makers to the point that GM credited managing that portion of its supply chain with leading to .

As a result, and each reduced their full-year U.S. light-vehicle sales forecast to 15.3 million units, citing a slower pace to recovery from market constraints. LMC referred to inventory levels as “critically low.” Cox led its report by noting that not only are inventories low, but prices are high and sales incentives have vanished (note – this is how that entire supply/demand thing works). Cox laid it all at the feet of supply: “.”

Globally, the pandemic is not over. This continues to have the potential to drastically impact global vehicle volumes, especially in China. Global vehicle production could lose up to 1.5 million units this year if China’s COVID-Zero policy is maintained, according to estimates from Fitch Solutions quoted in . Most recently, phased lockdowns in Shanghai in response to COVID-19 outbreaks for several major automakers and suppliers.

Add to that, the ongoing microchip shortage (for which no end appears in sight) is causing production downtime at various plants: at Stellantis’ Mack Assembly plant in Detroit and Belvidere Assembly plant in Illinois; Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 at GM’s Fort Wayne Assembly plant; and at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly plant. Let’s not forget the war in Ukraine, leading to German automakers potentially losing up to in March due to supply disruptions.

Oddly, the industry feels both healthy (revenue, profits, margins, etc.) and stressed with an uncertain future (see above) all at the same time. Also oddly, but strangely not so oddly, nothing about this situation feels new. Is this the new normal? Keep reading here at the Dashboad over 2022 to find out!