Regis Philbin
Jun 17th, 2009, 06:36 PM
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-inventory_17bus.ART.State.Edition2.50fdeae.html
Dealers facing tight supply of SUVs, trucks
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News
If you've got your eye on a new SUV, don't blink.
BEN TORRES/Special Contributor
An area of the lot at Sam Pack's Five Star Ford in Carrollton held more than 50 Expeditions and 50 Explorers about this time last year. Now there are four Expeditions and less than 10 Explorers on the lot. It might be gone. Even with the auto industry mired in depression – sales are down nationally 36.5 percent – big vehicles such as the Ford Expedition and Chevy Tahoe are in tight supply because of drastic production cuts that automakers imposed last year as sales began to plummet.
Now, a year after $4-a-gallon gas nearly killed SUVs, some dealers in this market are selling them for window-sticker prices. Moreover, most late-model used pickups and SUVs have regained all of the thousands of dollars in trade-in value they lost last summer, dealers say.
Dealers love for demand to exceed supply, but many are concerned that they could run short of profitable trucks if the economy improves in the second half of the year. Their supply of cars – particularly compacts – remains high, they say.
"When you go through the inventory, you find we've got an 18-day supply of Expedition ELs," said Sam Pack, who owns Five Star Ford in North Richland Hills, Sam Pack's Five Star Ford in Carrollton and Ford Country in Lewisville. "That's too low. It starts costing you sales."
Dealers facing tight supply of SUVs, trucks
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News
If you've got your eye on a new SUV, don't blink.
BEN TORRES/Special Contributor
An area of the lot at Sam Pack's Five Star Ford in Carrollton held more than 50 Expeditions and 50 Explorers about this time last year. Now there are four Expeditions and less than 10 Explorers on the lot. It might be gone. Even with the auto industry mired in depression – sales are down nationally 36.5 percent – big vehicles such as the Ford Expedition and Chevy Tahoe are in tight supply because of drastic production cuts that automakers imposed last year as sales began to plummet.
Now, a year after $4-a-gallon gas nearly killed SUVs, some dealers in this market are selling them for window-sticker prices. Moreover, most late-model used pickups and SUVs have regained all of the thousands of dollars in trade-in value they lost last summer, dealers say.
Dealers love for demand to exceed supply, but many are concerned that they could run short of profitable trucks if the economy improves in the second half of the year. Their supply of cars – particularly compacts – remains high, they say.
"When you go through the inventory, you find we've got an 18-day supply of Expedition ELs," said Sam Pack, who owns Five Star Ford in North Richland Hills, Sam Pack's Five Star Ford in Carrollton and Ford Country in Lewisville. "That's too low. It starts costing you sales."