Chip shortage and the auto industry

[Neal]

No loaner vehicles at my local Chevy dealership due to a car shortage I learned when taking my Colorado for service yesterday. Sold my Porsche pretty easily and nearly what I paid for it in 2012 with Porsche lots half inventory at best. We all know the story, the auto industry is suffering. I did my routine check of my typical web sites and saw Ford is hit hard.

Ford's U.S. sales decline 33% in August as chip shortage devastates auto industry

Ford's sales capped off a dismal month of U.S. auto sales in August, which plummeted to their slowest adjusted selling rate since June 2020.

www.cnbc.com

Curious how this is going to affect, if not already, the RV industry. I know of other supply shortages but this "chip situation" is the major one.

 

[Buly]

I did read somewhere today that Ford and GM are suspending production in some areas due to the chip shortage.
A DS owner next to us told me Newmar has lots of new coaches parked and waiting for furniture?

 

[MapNerd]

Back in November of 2020 when we were so fed up with Newmar and preparing to switch to a 5er, I ordered a fully loaded F350 DRW Lariat from a dealer in Springfield, VA, every single option checked. By March 2021 when it turned up on the lot, we’d decided we were going to keep the coach and I told the dealer he could sell it.

Hindsight is 20/20. I should have bought it and parked it. I could have easily sold it for a 15-20k profit.

 

[J&JD]

No loaner vehicles at my local Chevy dealership due to a car shortage I learned when taking my Colorado for service yesterday. Sold my Porsche pretty easily and nearly what I paid for it in 2012 with Porsche lots half inventory at best. We all know the story, the auto industry is suffering. I did my routine check of my typical web sites and saw Ford is hit hard.

Ford's U.S. sales decline 33% in August as chip shortage devastates auto industry

Ford's sales capped off a dismal month of U.S. auto sales in August, which plummeted to their slowest adjusted selling rate since June 2020.

www.cnbc.com

Curious how this is going to affect, if not already, the RV industry. I know of other supply shortages but this "chip situation" is the major one.

 

["EZ"]

I sold 131 Ram chassis last month. Roughly $7,860,000.00 worth of Ram commercial chassis. I could have sold 500 if I could have had the inventory. (I sell to Dealers, not the public) The demand is so strong I don't think we'll ever see it this way again. I actually had a dealer call me and tell me he would pay me $1000 PER TRUCK over my normal prices if I would let him have ALL of my allocation for last month. I had to turn him down because all of my other dealers that I sell to would have been UPSET!! But that's how bad it's gotten. Dealers are BEGGING for inventory. The factories can't produce the trucks.

I got an email today saying that Ram would probably only produce 300 3500/4500/5500 chassis for September for the whole country! There are 50 bailment pools like me so there are a lot of people that won't get any inventory at all this month. I'm in the top 3 in sales for the whole country and I went 3 straight months without getting any allocation at all this Summer. So I couldn't order any trucks. Period. It's been a great year and a terrible year all at the same time. I'm $200K over my sales projections for the year and it's only August. Problem is there are no trucks to be had. If the trucks were able to be produced this would be a sales year that would never again be matched as long as I live! Oh well, I'm way ahead of the game so I can't complain.

 

[Voyageurs]

8 month wait to get a Tesla model X right now. 5 months for a model Y or 3. I think all manufacturers are feeling it. The ford lot here looks pretty skinny.

 

[Jim]

I live in the mountains of NC, we don't get out much. So it's understandable that I'm in the dark. Was it covid hitting China that is causing the shortages?

 

[Old Bubblehead]

It's the knock down effects of CV19 across the whole supply chain. Complicated because each country is on its own pandemic trajectory. Throw in a bit of politics and life gets interesting for sure.

 

["EZ"]

I live in the mountains of NC, we don't get out much. So it's understandable that I'm in the dark. Was it covid hitting China that is causing the shortages?

Old Bubblehead is correct. The entire supply chain is jacked up because of employees getting Covid and halting production of items needed to build the vehicle. But the biggest problem is the fire at the computer chip factory in Japan (I believe). These chips are critical to be able to build vehicles and we apparently don't make them in our country any more.