The State Of The Global Economy As Measured In Unsold Cars
WeSeed directed us to this sad photo album of cars backed up at ports and manufacturer lots around the world. Maybe they can be handed out in clusters as executive bonuses at the end of the year.
"Unsold Cars Around The World" [The Business Insider via WeSeed]
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Maybe they can haul them back to the factories and the workers can disassemble and then reassemble them to keep busy?
I would not mind taking my (low level corporate) bonus in the form of a very late model year car.
Well at least they don't start depreciating until after you drive them off the lot..... right?
Anyone ever think about the environmental impact this made on the world's non-renewable resources. We basically have raped the Earth! (and not the first time) And for what? To keep workers busy and produce, produce, and produce without ever a real demand?! So that the "numbers" on Wall Street can look good and keep shareholders happy. Fuck 'em. You got what you deserve, you narrow minded jerk-offs.
@kaptainkk: Yep. Don't forget that factory worker who is going to get what's coming! I hear he uses a hoe when he does his nasty deed to mother earth.
If foreclosed houses in Detroit are selling for a few thousand dollars, maybe they should start trying to sell these cars for pennies on the dollar.
Hmmm...foreclosed houses in Detroit? More cars than Detroit can sell? Could there be a connection between all these economic woes?!?!
Hey, I'd take a new car on the cheap if they needed some money. I just paid off my 5-year-old car. (not that I *need* a new one!)
That's not really totally accurate. Toyota and Honda have cars backing up as well. It's easy to argue that those two have pushed the motoring beyond the Big 3 American automakers.
With that sort of stockpile, you'd think they would be giving them away.
P.S.: I'm waiting for the GM-meets-Art Van Furniture ad in our near future. "EVERYTHING AT COST! EVERYTHING MUST GO!"
I could use a few parts for my 05 Grand Am, I bet there are a lot of those there...Where is this mystical land of cars?
Ahhhhh......and here in Texas, GM in Arlington...which makes SUV models, Escalade, Tahoe and Suburban, started overtime today, including at least 2 Saturdays a month. Supposedly, the OT will continue until August. Of course 75% of what we are building is going overseas. They can't keep up with the orders....go figure!
My husband and I won't be buying a brand new car any time soon, if ever. We currently have a 1999 Dodge Dakota with just under 78,000 miles and a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville that just hit 107,000. Both vehicles are probably good for at least another 100,000 miles each. The Dodge was a high school graduation gift from his grandmother in 2002 and I paid $2300 cash for the Bonneville (64K original miles at the time) in 2003. They're both easy to fix and my husband was an auto mechanic before getting his computer science degree. We're pretty frugal so we feel its wasteful to dump reliable cars that didn't cost us much to begin with just to impress someone else. You wouldn't believe the deals you can get on older, lower mileage vehicles if you look and aren't too picky about the model! Good maintenance is essential to keeping an older vehicle running well. I even detail the interiors on a regular basis so the vehicles don't feel worn out; a little Armor-All goes a long way!
We have the money to buy but with a mortgage and student loan payments taking on extra debt just to keep up with the Joneses seems pretty dumb.
If they (the car companies, mainly the domestic Big 3) really truly want to do something about their backlog of unsold cars, it's time for an honest 50-percent off sale, no gimmicks. This would stimulate the economy, get people that might otherwise not have considered their brands to try them and reduce their backlog. Get serious, Detroit, and stop your whining. Put your crap on sale, a real sale!
Too much supply, to little demand -- they need to drop the price.
@sumgai: It's the price of cheap credit, and to a stupid idea that each year should be better than the last. Making a Profit, or god forbid a customer(see P. Drucker) is out the window, shareholders want more and more each year. Because a year is valid unit of measure so we should structure everything around it.
I wonder what is a better strategy for Detroit, selling these cars off at a huge loss in order to get them off their books/lots or just straight up dismantle them in order to keep supply and demand a little more in their favor. Maybe they are just hoping a late spring hail storm will make this their insurance company's problem and not theirs. Dealers around here are always getting their entire inventory replaced after a good hail storm shatters a few dozen windshields and dents whatever is left.
@spoco: And crappy sales techniques, unwanted designs pretty much figured that the overpaid car company CEOs directed unions to build cars no one wants to buy...
Please, enough on the union hacking. If true capitalism had its way we would be immediately working for the equivalent pay of Chinese labor ...
@kaptainkk: I thought all the crazies were marching on Washington DC heralding global warming in a snow storm. I guess you missed the bus?
@kaptainkk: Not just Wall St. You have huge amounts of bailout money being thrown at an industry which long ago should have shed at least one of the big three in order to keep Michigan politicians happy, since right now, much of the state is dying.
on the very right of the picture.. "I'll take the white car in the middle please!"
I wonder why they're not basically giving cars away for free....seriously, those 08 models and maybe some 07s are just gonna sit for a loooong while!
@Megan Squier: Likewise. I drive a 98 Toyota Camry and boyfriend drives a 92 Subaru. Both are getting up there in mileage (mine has 160,000) but are good cars and will regular maintenance have lasted us both through college and beyond.
There really is no reason for either of us to buy a car until it's absolutely necessary, especially not for appearances sake! Sorry car companies.
@Erin Cummins: Definitely agree! I grew up working class, my dad worked construction and my mom cleaned houses so driving old cars isn't anything new to me. My husband's parents ALWAYS bought new cars thinking that they were somehow better than gently used cars. When I see a new car all I see is instant depreciation.
By the time all of those cars actually get to dealer they won't sell for anything close to the MSRP. Here in Huntsville, AL where I live, a Kia dealer is STILL trying to get rid of a lot full of 2008 models by marking them down 40+ percent. I don't think he's had too many takers because the lot was still full the last time I drove by. Huntsville really hasn't been hit that bad by the downturn either.
@sebadoh128: Yes, but if the car is still several times what my bonus was, everyone wins. Reminds me of Wamu giving out all their branded junk.
Some of the cars in those pictures are from 2005. I know that honda didnt just keep all thier 2005 accords because the economy was down 4 years ago. I think the story lacks some credibility and is a bit misleading. Cars are ALWAYS stacked up for transit somewhere.
Wow, you lot are pretty stupid in general. Every single one of those cars is non-American, except for the Ford trucks, which are selling like hotcakes -- new production shifts, exports, and all.
Where's the guy that wanted the jeep for 24,000? I bet if he slipped the guard at the lot 5k he could pick the one he wanted.
These pictures don't tell us anything. We don't know how full or empty those holding lots are during good economic times. If this was 3 years ago they could have published similar pictures with text saying everything's booming, look how many cars are stacked up awaiting transport! Now if they had before and after pictures of those places, today vs. a few years ago, that might tell us something.
@Megan Squier: You must be new here. Praising the value and longevity of American-made vehicles isn't allowed on this site.
I wish the dealers here in NoVA were as motivated as the ones there in Huntsville. Not to worry, I'll just keep my Mopars going a bit longer while they sit on lots full of new cars, refusing to budge off their inflated sticker prices.
@econobiker: Awe but the jobs would come home. Awe me so hungry. Me work long time for food. You want a #1 slave labor make you very rich.
Back in September, Bill Heard shut down 10+ GM dealerships across several states and filed bankruptcy.
Six months later, the former Bill Heard Chevy dealership in Sugar Land (Houston) TX still has hundreds of new cars and trucks sitting on its closed lot.
Here's an idea: Before GM gets a few more billion of our tax dollars tossed into their corporate toilet bowl to build more sh*t, make them flush out the overstock they already have on hand.
@kaptainkk: That's what it and we are here for. It all works out in the end though. Read 3001 by the Prophet, A.C. Clarke. We don't live on the earth anymore.
@wardawg: Might even be able to get a brand new 2005 Grand Am. I am sure there one around there somewhere, under a tarp or something.
That's the price for a lack of innovation--unsold crap.