'Orphan' Smart cars pile up as buyers back out

[SmartDigger]

How long is it taking a domestic ( big 3 ) car to sell? I bet much longer than 28 days. I know most dealers around here are laying off sales people. I know 2 of the biggest dealers in Mansfield only sold 7 new autos combined last month.

[OC1Dave]

Out of curiosity, I looked around and found that it is actually the almighty Prius that is piling up with an 80 day or so supply on hand. All hybrid sales are very slow right now, and the economics at today's gas prices don't work very well. Personally, I wouldn't take two of them for my smart ($$ aside of course).

[Suze]

90+ days is what most dealers are seeing their inventory sick around. That is, if the dealership is still in business...

[AlanPerry]

Originally Posted by redbluff

Lets also keep in mind there are a lot of mini-cars that will enter the market this year and people are looking at those as well. I am going Thursday for a pre-view of the new Nissan Cube. It looks cool as well.

Uh, the Nissan Cube is not a mini-car. It is almost as big as a Golf.

Mini-cars are things like the Toyota iQ and the VW Up!

The smart FAD my be just that.

I do not believe that smart sales are based on being flavor of the month. I believe that primarily, the sales are based on pent up demand after being the car unavailable here for so long and then waiting for Zap to legalize it and then Zap sticker shock and then waiting for Penske to bring it in. The question has been how long would it take to draw down that pent up demand and get to sales based primarily on people who were unfamiliar with the car before.

As far as the original topic, who cares what USA Today says? They describe a car that is moving faster than most anything else being sold now as "piling up" on dealer lots. Either they are idiots or deliberately misleading and, given that, as I said, who cares what they say?

[MPrice2984]

I suspect the real cause is lack of financing available. Now that a lot of the banks won't finance with less than a 700-725 score that cuts out even people who pay their bills on time and carry small balances. Most car and truck models would be selling if it weren't for the banks and lack of job security.

[jonnysan]

Originally Posted by Godfather

Just watch all the folks who are getting lulled back into pickup and SUV purchases choke on them when gas zooms, and it will. Not even anywhere near peak driving season, and we are over $2 a gallon here now. Anyone honestly think gas is going to stay cheap? How quickly we forget..........

And all the "last minute Hanna's" will be crying the blues when the prices shoot back up....bet on it!

[kwagar]

Just spoke to the Orlando dealership which is having a particularly good sales month this month. No doubt that more orphans are available but that doesn't necessarily mean sales are stagnant everywhere.

[Orphan-Beggar]

Originally Posted by AlanPerry

As far as the original topic, who cares what USA Today says? They describe a car that is moving faster than most anything else being sold now as "piling up" on dealer lots. Either they are idiots or deliberately misleading and, given that, as I said, who cares what they say?

USA TODAY....has the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States (averaging over 2.25 million copies every weekday)

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by Orphan-Beggar

USA TODAY....has the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States (averaging over 2.25 million copies every weekday)

Which is why they have a moral obligation (yes, loosely defined in media) to report accurately. When the industry average time to sell is 95 days and the Smart sells in 28 days, how in the living hell is that "piling up?" Because a year ago there were none on the lots? That's bad reporting.

Media. So easy to manipulate. And they have so many willing to read the inaccuracies, to panic on "news" of a doomed economy. What causes stock markets to drop? Panic from news. What causes people to hoard money, not buy a house, etc? News panic. One reporter repeats something inaccurate from someone else, and the chain reaction is all it takes to cause a widespread panic.

[fpage77]

Originally Posted by Orphan-Beggar

USA TODAY....has the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States (averaging over 2.25 million copies every weekday)

I prefer quality over quantity. The biggest isn't always the best. I have never read their paper. I have a local paper that is perfectly fine.