Recently I went car shopping with a relative. We went to a dealership representing a major automaker that offers both gas and electric cars. Beforehand, we had consulted the website and picked out some things we liked, such as a specific color, as well as a tow hitch and some other options of interest. When we got to the dealership we noticed that the parking lot had a lot of empty spaces in it. The model we were interested in had only one in stock, which had no tow hitch, the wrong color, wrong trim level and the wrong power train.
Contrast this to Tesla, where you do not even have to visit a dealership. From home, I can order a Tesla in a variety of color/trim/seating configurations. If I am a little uncertain, no problem, there are several Tesla showrooms available where I can consult with sales associates, do test drives and explore what fits.
What happened? In a word, inventory.
The dealership model works just fine as long as you have inventory. In fact it might work better than Tesla’s, why wait 2-3 months for your vehicle to be built when you can drive off right now with exactly what you want. Plus test drive and oogle the car all you want, if panel gaps are your thing, why not bring along the calipers just to make sure this is the car for you.
The sales associate at the dealership tells us they used to get 400 cars per month, but now they get barely 100. The dealership gets very little say in what they get, cars more or less just show up. They maintain strong relationships with other dealers which helps ensure customers get their preferred choice. But still, without inventory, none of that can happen.
Looking back at inventory levels for the Auto industry (courtesy of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis), we find that inventory levels are at rock bottom, the trend pre-dates COVID. Inventory for all its uses, is a drain on company books. The last year or so has seen some recovery, but inventory levels have a long way to go in order to get back to pre-covid, and even post financial crisis levels.
It will be some time until inventory levels recover. There has been some recovery, so the situation is not entirely hopeless. Much depends on what kind of car you actually want. Suppose you were in the market for some of the less popular electric offerings. Say for example Toyota’s Bz4x electric car, apparently there is some inventory for these (source). If that is your situation, expect a most pleasant dealership experience.
Electric car adventures 