Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 261 posts

Re: Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

#61

Post by CamperBob2 »

krasin wrote: post #22

I have a hobby around electronics, and as a side effect, I have been keeping CSVs with all the components from JLCPCB Parts library for the last 6 months. It appears that we're slowly crawling out of the pit: date,in_stock,out_of_stock,in_stock/total 2022-06-06,185324,173101,0.517051 2022-06-05,185116,173227,0.516589 2022-06-01,184845,173355,0.516039 2022-05-28,183850,173676,0.514228 2022-05-21,181201,175377,0.508167…

Either that, or people are just giving up on new design starts for the time being (waves hand in air).

Re: Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

#63

Post by walrus01 »

csours wrote: post #8
RyanShook wrote: post #2

I saw an article recently saying that dealerships and car makers want to keep inventories low because they like the post-covid margins they're experiencing. When I paid 5k over msrp a few months ago the salesperson claimed they wanted more inventory because salespeople were unable to hit the volume goals they have. Not sure who to believe but I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between.

Disclosure: I work for GM. Anything expressed here is solely my own opinion and experience. I think each statement is true. Context: for ages, OEMs (the factory) have had a belief that Americans will not wait to buy a car. There's also a bit of a prisoner's dilemma: if any automaker wanted to trim inventories, the customer could go to a competing automaker's lot and buy today. Since customers will not wait to buy a c…

> Context: for ages, OEMs (the factory) have had a belief that Americans will not wait to buy a car.

On the contrary, we recently added a 3rd car, and it ended up being a $4000 used Toyota Camry. My first choice would have been a Corolla or civic but none were available at a reasonable price, condition and mileage. Due to the well known rise in used car prices.

It's in good enough condition and meets all the requirements for something that's comfortable, has cruise control and working AC, wasn't in bad shape, and can be repaired and maintained economically. Now I'm optimizing for dollars per km driven and although I could easily afford to take out a car loan for a new Model 3, or similar, I have absolutely no intention of doing so.

At the purchase price of this car and its highway mpg, and driving around 14,000 km per year, even at the current fuel prices (or if fuel goes to $6.85 USD a gallon) there is no way that its $/km is going to be anywhere near as high as the TCO of buying a new Prius or Ioniq nevermind a fully electric car.

I have simply opted out entirely from the concept of buying a dealership new car or late-model car and will continue to spend money on things that are reasonably adequate, and my financial outlay and overall level of stress are considerably lessened. No more worrying about if it collects a rock chip in its front plastic bumper, or a ding in a parking lot, no more paying comprehensive insurance, no more dealership haggling and waiting lists, no more inventory problems.

Re: Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

#64

Post by lettergram »

ryanSrich wrote: post #37
RyanShook wrote: post #2

I saw an article recently saying that dealerships and car makers want to keep inventories low because they like the post-covid margins they're experiencing. When I paid 5k over msrp a few months ago the salesperson claimed they wanted more inventory because salespeople were unable to hit the volume goals they have. Not sure who to believe but I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between.

Idk where you live, but paying over MSRP is unnecessary where I live (tier 2 US city) unless you’re looking at a very high end car ($80k+). Most dealerships near me that priced gouged had to change course pretty quick. I bought 2 vehicles during the pandemic, both at the same dealership, both at MSRP. I think most people who pay over either don’t know other dealerships will negotiate to MSRP, or they just really want…

I have yet to pay MSRP for a new car.

Twice, Ive gone in on Christmas Eve or New Years and make the guy wait around until he offers an employee discount.

I’ve also gotten a discount (5% under MSRP) for being associated with a university which purchases in bulk from the given dealership.

In one case I made the guy go into their system and show me I was buying it at cost to the dealership.

People just don’t know how to negotiate. I’d be sad to see dealerships go, I’ve saved probably ten thousand of haggling.

Re: Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

#67

Post by sammalloy »

csours wrote: post #8
RyanShook wrote: post #2

I saw an article recently saying that dealerships and car makers want to keep inventories low because they like the post-covid margins they're experiencing. When I paid 5k over msrp a few months ago the salesperson claimed they wanted more inventory because salespeople were unable to hit the volume goals they have. Not sure who to believe but I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between.

Disclosure: I work for GM. Anything expressed here is solely my own opinion and experience. I think each statement is true. Context: for ages, OEMs (the factory) have had a belief that Americans will not wait to buy a car. There's also a bit of a prisoner's dilemma: if any automaker wanted to trim inventories, the customer could go to a competing automaker's lot and buy today. Since customers will not wait to buy a c…

> In future American OEMs may move to a more European model where vehicles are built to specific customer order

This would be a great thing. NPR ran a show last week about the benefits of switching to this model for the consumer in terms of products of all kinds, and it turns out that given this choice, the customer makes better, more ethical and informed decisions about the product and feels better about the relationship they have with the producer and manufacturer. It tends to create a better and more loyal customer over time as well.

Re: Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

#68

Post by agensaequivocum »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #59
grog454 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In future American OEMs may move to a more European model where vehicles are built to specific customer order. That's it, I'm moving to Europe.

You don't have to do that. Many if not most automakers, both foreign and domestic, already accept custom orders through their dealers. You're not going to like the wait time, though.

I placed an order for a Sienna a couple of months ago. However, it's more of getting put in line for something similar that is allocated to the dealer. The more specific, the longer the wait is.

Re: Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

#69

Post by MobileVet »

a2tech wrote: post #45
colechristensen wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was seriously looking to buy and stopped when I was quoted a 9 month delivery time. Also, what is the point of a dealership if you have to wait a very long time and have no negotiation leverage? They might find they regret their temporary boost of profits when it destroys them. Ford is selling EVs direct to consumer now, the writing may be on the wall for dealerships.

My friends who work at Ford all report a general feeling of being over the dealership. They’re just as sick of the dealer shenanigans as we consumers are and it sounds like they’re working hard on cutting them out. This didn’t have to be—but the dealers insisted on being scummy and not changing with the times and now they’re left friendless.

Ford recently announced that all new electric vehicles will be ordered direct and at MSRP.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a40175990/ford-online-sale...

Re: Carmakers feel chip crisis easing

#70

Post by randomdata »

etempleton wrote: post #13
AmVess wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure they will all return to the way they did things prior to covid. All it will take is GM or Ford to start stacking new vehicles on car lots, and all of them will have to follow along.

Ford leadership seems to really want to move to the Tesla preorder model, but changing this will be extremely difficult. This entrenched way of doing business may start seriously hurting their bottom line if Tesla and others can scale the direct to consumer model.

> Ford leadership seems to really want to move to the Tesla preorder model

It may not be so much that they want to, but it is apparent that Ford is struggling to figure out how the dealership fits in an EV world, where your customers aren't constantly funnelling in for oil changes. The ICE model allows the dealership to make a sizeable portion of their income from the attached repair shop, but much of that shop work goes away with EVs. This will bring higher commission expectations and Ford could quickly find their cars priced out of the market from that when competitors aren't establishing dealer networks.

Post reply on HN