DEALERS SCRAMBLE TO DEAL WITH GROWING NEW-CAR INVENTORIES
Abandoned factories, forgotten shopping malls, and undeveloped
parcels of land have become parking lots full of new cars as
dealers try to figure out what to do with mounting inventories of
unsold vehicles. As of April 1, dealerships in the U.S. had 4.2
million unsold new cars waiting to find buyers, Automotive News
reported Tuesday. Although the excess inventory situation isn't
as dire as when the economy crashed a decade ago, it's only
114,000 fewer vehicles fewer than the modern-day inventory record
set in May 2004. However, should a downturn hit the auto industry,
dealers may find themselves overstocked.
The loans dealers take out to finance their inventories could
put the squeeze on new-car dealers. For around eight years,
interest rates remained low, which allowed dealers to carry vast
inventories with little cost. With interest rates on the continuous
rise, the same dealers stuffed to the max with more
