Year-on-year inflation surged to 8.5 percent in March, a 40-year high, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor. In this regard, The engineer Li Ming (pseudonym), who has just finished the salary increase, finally feels comfortable, although his US stock investment is still in the "blood loss", but the wage increase is good to catch up with inflation. But soon, this comfort was broken by the news of Tesla's successive price increases.
In April last year, Li Ming and a friend went to order a long-lasting version of the Tesla Model Y, but because he felt that it was too troublesome to modify the electric pile, and there was no shortage of cars at home at that time, Li Ming finally canceled the booking. Unexpectedly, Tesla's car prices have soared in the past year, from the early $50,000 he booked at the time to the latest $62,990, and the cumulative price increase has exceeded 25%.
After returning from the car last year, Li Ming rushed into the US stock market with the money to buy a car and invested in a number of technology-based growth stocks. Now, a year later, Li Ming's tens of thousands of dollars have shrunk by about 20%, and friends have successfully driven the Model Y around for $50,000. Friends also told him that if the Model Y is sold now, it may be much higher than the current price of 60,0003, because the market supply is insufficient, there is no existing car anywhere, and it is necessary to wait at least half a year from ordering to picking up.
Li Ming thought to himself, "To know that Tesla's car has risen like this, what stocks to invest in, it is better to book a few more cars last year." ”
In fact, it's not just Tesla, under the double impact of inflation and supply chains, prices across the Entire North American auto market have gone crazy higher over the past year. New cars, second-hand cars, as long as they are cars, are being robbed.
The price rises to "no one", waiting for the car to wait until the heartbreaks
It must be admitted that among a number of car brands, Tesla has definitely won the most attention with its shocking price adjustment frequency and amplitude, after all, the price has been adjusted more than 10 times a year, and even three consecutive increases in a week. Remember when the Model Y was first launched three years ago? It starts at just over $39,000. Not only the Model Y, but also the Model 3 have skyrocketed, from less than $30,000 after the energy subsidy when it was launched in 2016, all the way to the lowest $46,990 today.
As of April 15, Tesla Model Y, Model 3 us price
However, in addition to Tesla, whose price increase occupies the C position, other car brands are actually silently increasing prices, and stories of consumers not catching up with the increase and waiting for their cars abound.
In April last year, Wang Qing (pseudonym), who had just found a job, was preparing to buy a 2021 Toyota Camry SE to commute to work, when she found the car dealership to inquire about the lowest offer of more than $25,000, as well as a discount of $1,300 and a 60-month loan 0 interest rate, but she did not rush to start because she only joined at the end of July. But by the time she looked at it in June, the price had become $26,000, the discount was gone, and the loan interest rate was as high as 4%. By the end of July, sales told her that if she wanted to pick up the car as soon as possible, the price would need to be increased to more than $30,000.
In total, although it was to buy the same car, after just over 2 months, Wang Qing would need to pay more than 6,000 US dollars. The situation that was expected to ease in the second half of the year has not appeared, and since July last year, the price of this car has remained high or even increased by several thousands.
"In the past, general car sellers would give buyers some discounts or offers, but in the past, they would only add market adjustment fees to limited or special models. But in the past year, due to the small inventory of new cars, generally existing cars will be bought immediately, and it is difficult for buyers to enjoy any discounts. If there is any new car that does not need to be bought at a higher price, it is already very rare. A car salesman told Silicon Starman.
According to cox Automotive, an automotive market research institute, in October 2019, buyers paid an average of about 4% lower than the suggested retail price. In February, the actual price of new cars in the United States was on average 2% higher than the manufacturer's suggested retail price, and the average incentive on car sales fell to a 20-year low.
For the automotive industry, the last year has been a proper seller's market. With supply chain shortages and limited chip supply, many automakers have prioritized the production of larger cars with higher profit margins over lower-margin compact models. Popular and cost-effective scooters like the Toyota Camry and Honda Civic are hard to come by. The data shows that the average price of new cars in December has risen to $47,000. Consumers can't help but post and complain, how now the cars on the market have become 50,000 US dollars to start, directly called can not afford to buy.
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In addition to the need to spend more money to buy a car, many consumers wait until the sky is old. For example, if you want to book Tesla's Model 3, Model Y basic model, if you don't add any upgrade configuration, at least you have to be prepared to wait for a year, even if you spend more money to add configuration, it will take almost half a year. In addition, the pick-up cycle of some popular models of other brands is at least more than half a year, and even more exaggerated is even three or four years.
It is reported that the delivery cycle of Mercedes-Benz G-Class off-road vehicles has recently been extended to about 3 years, and since the beginning of this year, it has no longer accepted new orders. Toyota motor also recently posted an "apology message" on its official website in Japan, saying that due to the popularity of the latest 2022 model, land cruisers, in Japan and around the world, customers who book after January 19, 2022, may have a delivery time of up to 4 years.
Wait 4 years? Maybe self-driving cars have become mainstream.
According to Cox Antomotive's statistics on February 21 of this year, the current U.S. new car inventory is 60% lower than it was a year ago, to only 1.1 million units, while the total inventory of electric vehicles and hybrids is only 25,000 units. So if you want to buy a new car, otherwise you can calm down and wait for the Buddhist system, or you will go crazy to increase the price.
"Recently, many of my friends around me will book several cars at the same time, and it is really okay to lose a deposit, I am afraid that I will not be able to buy it." I booked both a Toyota Senna and a Tesla Model Y last November, and now senna is still far away, and the Model Y is going to be at the end of this year. An engineer who wanted to buy a new car told Silicon Starman.
Crazy used car market, small broken cars have also become fragrant
This lack of new cars on the market, especially the lack of cost-effective utility models, has also directly led to a surge in the price of used cars in North America. According to statistics website Cargurus, as of March 22, the average purchase price of americans' second-hand cars has exceeded $30,000, with an annual growth rate of 32%, which is 42% higher than the level before the epidemic in January 2019.
Among the many brands, the more low-cost and cost-effective the car, the greater the price increase. For example, Kia's used cars have risen by an average of 48.83% in the past year, Honda has risen by 40.66%, and Toyota has risen by 35.71%. In contrast, some high-end luxury car brands are relatively flat, Bentley only rose 15%, Ferrari rose 7%.
The price changes of each used car model in the past year, the picture is taken from cargurus
In terms of models, vans such as the Honda Odyssey and Kia Carnival (Van & Miinivan) are the most sought after by the market, with an increase of more than 45% in the past year, followed by hatchbacks with a rise of 41%, and cars with more than 36%.
A netizen said that he was ready to sell his Nissan Amanda SUV, and last March last year, he consulted some car dealers for the first time, and the highest offer he received was $19,000, because his psychological price at that time was 20,000, so he did not sell. By July, the car dealers he had consulted had called him to ask if his car had been sold, and the highest offer was 29,000. In other words, his car drove for a little more than half a year, the depreciation was more, and it actually rose by $10,000.
Today, on the Cars vehicle sales website, the used 2021 Camry, which has been driven for 10,000 miles, will sell for $31,000. Remember the price of this new car last May that we mentioned earlier? $25,000, and $1,300 in cashback.
The image is taken from Cars.com
The same "good luck" also fell on friends who bought used cars before the beginning of last year. Someone spent $25,000 in early 2020 to buy a BMW X3, drove for two years, drove 10,000 more miles, and recently after hearing about the price increase of used cars, he went to see CarMax and found that his car is now valued at $28,000, so he has made $3,000 after driving for free for 2 years.
The soaring prices of new and used cars are mainly due to two aspects: a shortage in the automotive supply chain, and a price increase due to inflation. Recently, there is news that even the price of Michelin tires will increase in North America from April 1, with an increase of at least 5%.
So, will such a hard-to-find situation continue this year? According to Cox Automotive's latest research, high new car prices will not ease as supply is expected to remain tight in 2022 and new car production will be reduced by 3 million units throughout the year. But the good news is that the previously overswing used car prices seem to show a downward inflection point after a year of market digestion.
According to the Mannheim Used Car Value Index, which tracks the wholesale price of used cars bought by U.S. car dealers for sale in real time, the U.S. used car index has fallen for two consecutive months after setting a new record in January. Wholesale prices of used cars fell by 3.3% in March compared to the entire month of February. With the exception of vans, all major segments saw seasonally adjusted price declines, with SUVs experiencing the largest declines.
The index also said that the price of older used cars is likely to stabilize, and the decline may be even greater relative to newer used cars, with the average wholesale price of used cars aged three years falling by 2.9% in the whole month of January.
Used car value index in Mannheim as of March 2022
Overall, friends who want to buy popular brand new cars may still be in a long waiting state in 2022, and the price of used cars may not appear like last year's soaring market, but the supply of cost-effective used cars is still tight.
"No matter what kind of car he has, for people like us who just need it, it is the most important thing to be able to buy a car within the budget and drive it." A car-free person who looked at the car market for a long time said.
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