U.S. Auto Sales in 2022 Worst in over a Decade | Hacker News Reader

U.S. Auto Sales in 2022 Worst in over a Decade

wsj.com

12 pointslxm8 comments

Anecdotal data points here, but four different people I know wanted to buy a new car the past year.

Nobody found cars on lots.

One guy bought a Tesla literally because he could buy a car and felt waiting a few months for delivery was his only real option.

Another couple had a minivan shipped all the way from Nebraska.

The remaining two haven’t purchased a car. They would rather wait till cars they like come back to lots.

These played out over Q2/Q3 2022. Not sure if the situation is different now.

The automobile industry did this to themselves. I’m not a Tesla fan, but I see them winning by literally being the only manufacturer who is able to deliver cars to customers these past years.

(Yes, there are a ton of caveats and my sample size is small and doesn’t reflect *reality (TM)* etc etc)

In other cases there were cars available, but the dealers marked them up so much over MSRP that the prices (+higher interest rates) just put them out of afffordability.

And the dealers got cocky by not even bothering to label the price boosts as "ceramic coating" or "rustproofing" or whatever. They literally labeled the price markups as price markups.

I'm really glad that when I went to purchase a PHEV (both Toyota and Volvo), each which was allegedly "on-site, guaranteed, we'll show'it-tuh-yuh when you get here," there was no PHEV on-site.

Unfortunately, I had (early in the year) made some decisions that I had anticipated offsetting with a PHEV-purchase ($7500 Federal rebate); with the Inflation Reduction Act, any of the vehicles I wanted disappeared from the rebate program (so I did not end up getting this tax incentive — I consider "changing the rules halfway through a tax season" unfair, but that's just IMHO).

I am glad to see Volvo change their purchasing system, allowing more options/configurations, and abilities to bypass [mostly] the dealership.

It will continue to get worse, as auto manufacturers continues to add things that are unreliable (software, touchscreens, sat-comlink, WiFi): things that do not stand the test of time.

Meanwhile I just watched my odometer passed 80,000 in my 2004 Chevy Impala.

Only thing I miss are the manual transmission and crank windows.

I will shoot from the hip on this one. I don't have any sources directly at hand but across a lot of western countries the amount of new licenses has been declining for well over a decade. It is only a matter of time until the sales start to catch up to this.

Car ownership for a lot of people is now a necessity rather than a desire. It is becoming seen as a functional burden rather than a symbol of freedom. Why spend a sizable amount of your income feeding a 2 ton steel beast unless it is absolutely needed?

Maybe the fact the new car prices are up and the used car market as well has seen a surge price increases across the board.

In EU i think this is the main reason. The prices have rised with almost 50% for some cars while the salaries remained the same. It is going to be though in the future.

Is it because Carvana stopped buying? I should have sold them my car last year, the offer was really good.

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