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Where the World's Unsold Cars Go To Die

 
 
 
NobleSavage

NobleSavage

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I'm not a big fan of Zerohedge because they are usually full of shit, but this is an interesting post.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-16/where-worlds-unsold-cars-go-die

cars%201.jpg


Many more pics at the link.
 
Very interesting. I see that Snopes is still in the process of verifying these images.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/unsoldcars.asp

Cars are certainly one of the larger problems we face for certain, as they require constant attention, fuel, maintenance, roads and each one presently owned requires not one but two parking places. One where it resides and a rotating location for each time it is deployed for work, shopping and/or pleasure.

That's an awful lot of real estate when one considers the matter. :thinking:
 
Something's or somethings (are) missing here.
-Might a significant portion of these vehicles be the same vehicles at different locations?
-Maybe some of these photos were taken during unexpected logistical bottlenecks?
-What is the normal excess capacity manufacturers desire?
Consider there are thousands of suppliers feeding the auto manufacturers. I'm sure there are issues on a regular basis. I recall after the tsunami in Japan, it was expected that there might be a shortage of red Ford F150s as their red paint supplier in Japan was affected.

Unless it's government intervention literally paying to keep production up, I've a hard time believing there is such a disconnect between production and sales that this would be allowed to happen. What they seem to be describing here is for the sake of the auto supply chain not starting a recession, the end manufacturer is taking the brunt of it? Wouldn't institutional investors of these auto manufacturers be screaming about this?
 
Yeah, I don't know. Like I said it came from Zerohedge so I'm unsure of the veracity.

- - - Updated - - -

Under the Rose said:
Very interesting. I see that Snopes is still in the process of verifying these images.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/unsoldcars.asp

Cars are certainly one of the larger problems we face for certain, as they require constant attention, fuel, maintenance, roads and each one presently owned requires not one but two parking places. One where it resides and a rotating location for each time it is deployed for work, shopping and/or pleasure.

That's an awful lot of real estate when one considers the matter. :thinking:
Click to expand...

Car culture sucks.
 
Most of the pics are from 2009 credit crunch.

On average car orders run for 3 months.
When in December 2008 the crunch started, automotive sales totally collapsed.
Meanwhile incoming orders could not be stopped and cars kept coming in.

No supply chain caters for a stock increase of 300 percent and all importers had to improvise on very large scale.
(taking into consideration the very high demurrage in ports)

Pics are from that period

Most of the 2009 stocks (automotive AND construction equipment) has long been cleared.

Cheers
 
Cycad, any documentation of that? It seems as if those pictures are real but out of date.
 
From the article:
The car manufacturers have to buy more and more land just to park their cars as they perpetually roll off the production line.
Click to expand...

For this to be credible, we would have to believe car manufacturers keep paying workers and suppliers when they don't believe the cars and trucks can be sold.

Vehicle production levels are set by two critical factors. The first is efficiency. There is an optimum number produced per day which yields the lowest per unit costs. The second is sales projections. Production targets are set months in advance. There has to be steel and plastic available and ready to use on day one. No one wakes up in the morning and says, "Hey, it's the first of the month. Let's make 11,000 cars this month. Now what do we need?"

Everything is cut close and when things go wrong, they go wrong very fast. Car sales depend upon having the car a customer wants, the day he or she walks on the lot. The primary reason for losing a sale to an eager buyer is not having in stock the particular vehicle they want. A lot of thought and planning is put into producing the right mix of variety to satisfy consumer demand.

The idea that a car manufacturer will keep making cars just to keep the economic statistics up is simply not realistic.
 
Cycad said:
Most of the pics are from 2009 credit crunch.

On average car orders run for 3 months.
When in December 2008 the crunch started, automotive sales totally collapsed.
Meanwhile incoming orders could not be stopped and cars kept coming in.

No supply chain caters for a stock increase of 300 percent and all importers had to improvise on very large scale.
(taking into consideration the very high demurrage in ports)

Pics are from that period

Most of the 2009 stocks (automotive AND construction equipment) has long been cleared.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Looks like you were right. Snopes just update their page http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/unsoldcars.asp
 
Hmmm, Even though the story only actually depicts the logistics problems of an outdated temporary lull in demand. It's worth wondering whether Other industries might be able to establish a cartel that enables them to establish a De Beers Diamonds business model where prices are artificially inflated.
 
zorq said:
Hmmm, Even though the story only actually depicts the logistics problems of an outdated temporary lull in demand. It's worth wondering whether Other industries might be able to establish a cartel that enables them to establish a De Beers Diamonds business model where prices are artificially inflated.
Click to expand...

DeBeers keeps diamond prices high by restricting the retail supply. Does anyone think that is possible auto manufacturers could create a similar business model? The last time it was tried, Henry Ford took them to court.
 
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