German1967

A critical German supplier of cable, wiring and harnesses that operates two manufacturing sites in Ukraine had to shut down production leading to a shortage for likely all German car manufacturers as early as next week. Especially impacted seem to be VAG and BMW. Another constraint hitting supply.

TN_3

Well this is less than ideal...

detansinn

https://insideevs.com/news/570472/uk...-evproduction/

drcollie

I was at Porsche Bethesda yesterday getting my first "free" service on one of my vehicles. As I walked into their showroom while waiting a random salesman I didn't know says to me "Welcome! Which of these dream cars are you interested in today?" (I kid you not, how cheesy). I looked and saw a base used '21 4 cyl black Macan, a 2019 Carrera T, and a 2020 Cayenne base. Three vehicles is all. I replied back just to him with a smile "Well, the Porsches in my garage are better than your dream cars here, so probably nothing", just as the Sales Manager is walking up to greet me. Sales guy was taken aback and didn't know how to respond to that - the Sales Manager laughed and said "He's right - nothing here he is going to want, his garage is better than what we have".....

We had a good discussion on the state of the market afterwards. They had (1) car on the sunk transport, so they didn't get hurt too bad on that one, and they have (30) new Porsches coming in next month, every one is sold. They have zero new vehicles available and expect that to continue for the remainder of 2022, things are not improving in the pipeline. But the good news (from their perspective) is that there is no negotiations on price, which makes their job easier - 100% pre-sold and people are buying less than what they ideally want if they can get a vehicle. Pre-owned market is still very strong - did I want to sell them back any of my Porsches?

Tupper

What a great time to own a 992, I guess....

GoBlue!

I was scheduled to go into production last week on my TT. Hasn’t started. I hope to sneak in here but there are just too many wildcards.

ETA - It sounds like these are VW/Audi issues more than at least the 911 line.

ipse dixit

Serious question.

Did you ask the sales manager if what he says is accurate about capacity then why is he keeping his various "random salesman" around?

mksz51

It's my understanding that when new sales staff start with a dealership the majority of their income initially (especially when they are being trained) is from a salary. As they transition into their sales position fully that salary support progressively disappears and the majority of their income is from sales commissions. Sure, the dealership still has some benefits overhead for the employee but it's really the employee's "choice" to stay and fight it out with the other sales staff for sales (and income). I would absolutely hate working in that kind of an environment - if you have an endless ability to "hustle" the customer I guess you can do OK but wow, what constant pressure in an environment that you personally would have little control over.

dudeoverthere

Salesmen can be silly. I popped by a dealer a few years ago to check out the new 7MT. Said "Hey, I'd like to check out the new 7MT". SA: "Ah, a new TRACK TOY!, Let's get you into a new TRACK TOY." Proceeded to say "track toy" 10,000 times.

German1967

Panamera and Macan production in Leipzig halted. 911 and Taycan still going in Zuffenhausen.

TN_3

https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...is-2022-03-02/

detansinn

All of VW AG is affected by this. While the 911s and Taycans are still flowing from Zuffenhausen at the moment, it won’t be surprising to see that production halted as well.

While this can be frustrating to folks, it’s nothing compared to what the people of Ukraine are going through right now.

Jimmy-D

My Buddy works for a Dealership.

Make no bones about it - Dealerships are killing it in this environment. Every car they get is sold w/o having to discount at all.. Do not feel bad for any of them

peterdouglas

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/b...y-ukraine.html

drcollie

Yes I did. Because they are still getting cars in, and still selling them. The difference is "we" as consumers have nothing to look at, take for drives, negotiate on. While I was there they were writing two deals on allocations. So business keeps on - there just is no inventory, it's a pre-order market with ADM.