I went to Toyota and Ford to look at the Tacoma and the Ranger. Toyota had no Tacoma on their lot and only one Tundra. They only had one RAV4 too. Ford had 7 STX Rangers and about 20ish F150s. Their used car lots looked like Walmart parking lot after 10 PM.
It's definitely affecting automakers hard. Without chips, the new cars can't be produced and that means dealers don't get supply. In turn, there are less trade ins so the prices on the used cars skyrocket.
I just purchased a new vehicle this weekend myself. I went to three dealerships and all were slammed with customers purchasing vehicles, new and used. New car selection was definitely slim and used was almost non-existent.
If this carries on, and I believe it will for a long time, it will be interesting to see how the dealerships and manufacturers maneuver through it. Some say making chips here in the US is a good idea. I say who knows, but I do know it will cost millions to get plants going and definitely still take time to get the processes down.
The auto industry is just really shaky right now.
same story at computer electronics stores.
But I think at the same time, dealers and retailers are also just stocking less product.
Nissan, Susuki, and Mitsubishi have recently suspended production as they have everything but the silicone... It's not just that automakers are getting hit hard but every technology. Cell phones, computers, cars, hell even newer buildings that require complex circuitry to make the whole thing work. The current estimation for the shortage of losses is currently 2023 due to the high demand. It will be interesting to see how things play out. And then a lot of people also realized that they would rather have a personal vehicle rather than being cramped in a "covid public environment" so when automakers halted some production all of a sudden demand spiked. And that goes for computer building and everything else running on silicone.
