The world's unsold car stockpile

[Heel n Toe]

Ran across this on another forum... looks like a lot to me.

Houston...We have a problem!...Nobody is buying brand new cars anymore! Well they are, but not on the scale they once were. Millions of brand new unsold cars are just sitting redundant on runways and car parks around the world. There, they stay, slowly deteriorating without being maintained.

Below is an image of a massive car park at Swindon, United Kingdom, with thousands upon thousands of unsold cars just sitting there with not a buyer in sight. The car manufacturers have to buy more and more land just to park their cars as they perpetually roll off the production line.



Much, much more here... lots of photos: Where the World's Unsold Cars Go To Die | Zero Hedge

[VaSteve]

That article barely provided any information aside from "look at all the cars..."
...well, neither does this post.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

There's a big lot in Terminal Island west of downtown Long Beach that was pretty empty from 2003-2007 but started to fill up with brand new Nissans during 2008. When I left in 2009 it was jam packed - some still in drink wrap and no idea how many might've been still in shipping containers.

[sc_rufctr]

What a waste.

You'd think it would make more sense just to ramp back production.

Late 80s, Honda had a similar car park. I'm not even sure were it was exactly. Maybe Japan.
I read about it in a car magazine and the cars were described as rotting down.

[oldE]

The author lost my confidence when he came out with this statement:
"As it is, there are more cars than there are people on the planet with an estimated 10 billion roadworthy cars in the world today."

Ramping down production is never an easy task when you consider the number of components in a modern automobile and the lead time to create and ship each piece.
There is no doubt that many vehicles sit for close to a model year before they are sold. I recall my wife getting a pretty good deal on a '92 Jetta in the spring of '93 for just this reason.
Not exactly a new phenomenon.

Best
Les

[Adam]

If you read it, it's as if some 4th grade kid wrote the article. It's a clunky, opinionated piece.

It's been debunked here: That Zero Hedge Article On Unsold Cars Is Bull****

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by Adam

If you read it, it's as if some 4th grade kid wrote the article. It's a clunky, opinionated piece.

It's been debunked here: That Zero Hedge Article On Unsold Cars Is Bull****

That was more interesting than the original article.

[URY914]

...and if you count the car up on blocks in front of mobile homes the number will double.

or the number of 914's on jack stands.....

[mgatepi]

This article is complete BS. The auto inventory numbers are published every week in Auto News. And the industry average is 60 days of inventory on the lots. And recently for the most part inventory levels are lower than this.
The article was written by someone who has no auto industry knowledge. Ever hear of JIT (just in time)? The parts inventory's in this industry are managed extremely well!

[slakjaw]

I dont know anyone who can afford a new car but please buy them because I am going to need a good used car in like 10 years.

[LakeCleElum]

I read stuff like this and file it under:

SLOW NEWS DAY

The media has to keep cranking out stories even when nothing is new.