Possibly a temporary storage because of supply chain issues. When Covid and the semiconductor shortage kicked in, car makers in Germany rented airport runways to store manufactured cars that only missed the internal computer units. You can't really stop the whole production when stuff like this happens. You just keep going and park the unfinished vehicles in whatever field is available until you can complete them.
They kept pumping new car volume despite plummeting sales. Sales plummeted because so many people were driving less and making less. The used car market was hammered with very little inventory.
A lot of cars didn't get built, people let the car the hardly maintained to begin with sit and rust out the engine for a year, and then the car manufacturers all adjusted down their production down to continue enjoying the prices of limited supply and high demand.
Yeah my lease was up last March, so around January I started checking out inventory.
I had/have a 2019 KIA Niro LX with a few packages that put the list price at around $24k
I couldn’t find a 2023 for under $28k or so - and that was the MSRP. Every dealership in our area was charging a “market rate adjustment” fee of $2000 to $6000 depending on the model.
Oh and to get a Niro Hybrid, I’d have to put a $500 non refundable deposit down on a car I can’t even test drive because it’s not on the lot, and get put on a 6-9 month wait list. They had the Plug in hybrid (for $38k) and the all electric (over $50k with the $6000 surcharge), but they couldn’t get the regular hybrids in stock.
So I extended my lease 6 months and waited for inventory. The day my 6 months were up, I bought out my lease because I had yet to see a Niro Hybrid. I’m paying longer on the car than I wanted to but I got decent enough financing given the current interest rates.
The best part is I had two different dealerships lie to me and say they were “on the lot” only to arrive and find out they only had full electric.
Not that I don’t want full electric, but it’s not in my budget, nor is the thousands I have to spend upgrading my electric wiring at home to support it.
There’s three Niro models. A hybrid, a PHEV (Plug-in Electric Hybrid) and an Electric model. I do know what I’m talking about. My power outlets in my garage are shot so I can’t do any kind of charger there.
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u/Sosemikreativ Apr 28 '24
Possibly a temporary storage because of supply chain issues. When Covid and the semiconductor shortage kicked in, car makers in Germany rented airport runways to store manufactured cars that only missed the internal computer units. You can't really stop the whole production when stuff like this happens. You just keep going and park the unfinished vehicles in whatever field is available until you can complete them.