No words to describe this! I seriously don’t know how a salesman can survive with the lot looking like this.

The internet is saying new car/truck inventory is down close to 40% currently and higher in other places.

I dont deal with alot of people but the ones I do all have bought new trucks in the past year, maybe 6, and it looks like two of my neighbors have new chevy trucks this weekend.

Not sure what all this means.

I do feel bad not being able to support my local dealer. But when the time came to replace my truck. They didn’t have anything to even consider. So we made a trip to the DFW area.

Great time to sell a used car...not a great time to buy one.

Love the color combo!

Thanks. The wife gets all the credit. I wanted a chrome trim Limited! (Pic added for effect) They look great with chrome around the side windows and the chrome trim piece down the lower body line. But...BUT, the wife wanted the Night Edition blackout package and 22” wheels. It still rides AMAZING with 22’s. The air suspension is way better than even our 2015 Laramie with air suspension and 20” wheels.

My dealer had the same issues, no trucks left on the lot, a couple of Jeeps, and maybe a minivan or two. Even their used car inventory was down to 6! I talked with the salesman there who sold me my truck in 2015 and he was hurtin"...

I've been researching new Durangos. What I want is going to be very difficult to find (V6, tow package, heated seats and NOT WHITE or that ugly gray). Auto trader will let me look at inventory across the country, but the Dodge site limits me to 250 miles away. I'm not ready to go to the dealer yet, either. Plan is start seriously looking in August and perhaps find a leftover for a bargain like we did with the Hyundai last year ($5,500 below sticker on a $22,500 car - nearly 25% off - one at this price sort of thing). There are quite a few available with the six and tow, but it's hard to tell from the ad if they have the heated seats. Nothing within 250 miles of here.

These issues are backing all the way up into the manufacturing side of the auto business. I sell custom automation & machinery for assembly, test, and inspection lines, in the OEM, and tier supplier factories. There are lines and complete factories shut down right now because of supply chain issues. I am starting to notice a slow down in new project specification and sourcing as well. Interesting times.

The big shut downs were 1 year ago, why are issues just popping up now?

I like car gurus, that's how I found my '16 300. CG's has lots of options for sorting and allows user defined search area including nationwide. I've found many dealers don't know what options they have on what vehicle so after finding a VIN, I go to https://windowstickerlookup.com/ to see how it was equipped. Looks like right now there's only two available nationwide with tow package, both hemi powered.

https://www.cargurus.com

Supply chains are quite complex and one or two issues like supplier plant shut downs or inventory planners making bad forecasts can create a domino effect that can take some time before things get straightened out.
A year ago, the automakers made future production plans based on the thinking we were in a big recession because of COVID.
The big recession was actually somewhat of an artificial recession caused by government ordered shut downs and stay at home orders that came in the middle of what had been a boom time in the economy. When things started to loosen up, a lot of the economy bounced back quickly, much different than how it slowly recovers from a typical recession.
Add to that people being flush with cash from government stimulus handouts and savings from being home for months not being able to take vacations, go out to dinners and shows etc, and now eager to spend the money buying things like cars.
Since the automakers had incorrectly forecast lower demand, they’d told chipmakers in Asia their orders were going to be lower and the chipmakers shifted a lot of production over to chips for electronics and such which was also increasing in demand due to people working from home and kids logging in for school from home. They can’t just shift back overnight and even if they could, delivery from Asia takes time.
Even the storm and cold causing the grid to go down in Texas messed things up as some suppliers shut down. I talked to someone recently who said he still can’t get 55 gallon barrels of bedliner material because their source in Texas shut down and had frozen pipe damage from that weather they are repairing.
It’s been a perfect storm type chain of events that will still be having repercussions long into the future.
Finding a vehicle in dealer inventory that you like will be tough for a while, you can still order vehicles if you don’t mind waiting months for delivery. Customer orders get top priority for build at the plants.

Last night on the news it said there is a severe Chlorine tablet shortage due to a fire at the only plant that makes chlorine tablets for pools! What are we all gonna do now? LOL

I need running boards for my new truck, I just called to order and both the ones I liked were back ordered with no estimated ship date.
It’s hard to find much of anything available out there now.

Lean enterprise and just in time delivery principles can be good things but don't take pot holes very well.

I've seen factory documentaries that show sub assemblies like motors, dashes, seats loaded in to trucks in final build order. Nice bit of interconnected supply chains production and logistics. The parts rack in the trailer that connects to the factory conveyer is a cool touch - they unload them selves. Except [censored] happens when this engine plant throttles back this week and that dash plant throttles back another week, trucks get parked, etc, etc. Should have some buffer inventory built in some where for the occasional outage but the whole idea is to not have inventory, just have it flow straight from dock to assembly. Final assembly right on to rail cars would be a good ad.

As for going on for months, that's another thing. Is it just FCA?

Yep !!! ordered a new Ram Classic 1500 February 25th still waiting and the dealer doesn't know when its coming, supposedly was shipped April 29th last they heard.

Switch to salt water baby.........!!

Oh my goodness.........those poor dealerships.

Good.

How does their famous saying go? "We're not making any money selling cars ". lol, I guess they'll actually do better financially with no vehicles on the lot.

I bet they're also not pulling in the usual gravy from the shop: people have time on their hands to work on their own vehicles.

Clorox