German Car Zone

On the lot: What's hot, what's not!

-Solstice sells in 14 days while Crossfire sits for 302-

In Miami, the wait for a Mini Cooper can be weeks.

At East Coast Toyota in Wood Ridge, N.J., tiny Scion cars are sold even before they are unloaded from the carrier.

“There’s a six-week waiting list for the Scion tC,” said John Dee, sales manager at the Toyota store, one of the largest in the Northeast.

And in many U.S. showrooms, the Pontiac Solstice, Chevrolet HHR, BMW 6 series and Ford Fusion run in short supply.

But for every hot seller, there’s a lonely car in the back of the lot that has been waiting a long time to find an owner.

How quickly a shiny car or truck sells, or how long it languishes on a dealer lot, has become an important measuring stick as automakers battle to manage inventory levels, maximize factory output and keep a lid on discounts.

Consumers can choose from over 300 car and truck models, and with product development cycles shrinking to 18 to 24 months, the rate at which a new vehicle sells has become a monitor of a model’s appeal and staying power. Fast sellers are good news not only for automakers but also for dealers, whose finance and insurance charges increase the longer a vehicle goes unsold.

The average car or truck is selling in 58 days this year, up from 54 days in the fourth quarter, but down from 66 days a year ago.

Asian and European nameplates dominate the list of quick sellers, while Kia, Isuzu and a bevy of domestic cars and ? trucks are among the laggards.

The hottest sellers are the redesigned Lexus IS sedan, Toyota Prius and the Scion tC. They all are spending fewer than 15 days on dealer lots before being sold, according to national sales activity tracked through the first eight weeks of 2006 by J.D. Power and Associates’ Power Information Network.

At the other end of the spectrum are the sporty Chrysler Crossfire, Mitsubishi Endeavor SUV and Hyundai Santa Fe, along with many discontinued models such as the Buick Park Avenue, Ford Thunderbird, Pontiac Grand Am and Lincoln Aviator.

Many new or redesigned models tend to sell fast as automakers ramp up production to fill the pipeline and launch ad campaigns. And luxury models that are sold in limited supplies often dominate the list of fast sellers...


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I knew the current Mercedes CL would make that list.

M

lol not a single BMW on the coldlist. Im happy to see the 7er doing well, must be the facelift.

Audi TT and CL are due for replacement so it's expected.

The FL 7 series on the other hand is doing better than new S class? That's a big surprise!

I wouldn't read that the 7 is doing better than the S when S is outselling the 7-Series. That is why I don't put to much into these lists that JD Powers seems to come up with every week. The 7-Series is doing well but the S outsold it by a bunch in Feb. The survey tracks the first 2 months of the year, not just Feb. The S just came out in Feb so they didn't have the data on it yet. The S-Class will no doubt place ahead of the 7-Series on this list the next time around. No way the S-Classes are sitting around on dealers lots more than 7-Series in the U.S., there are shortages of the new S.

M

the mercedes cl-class is on the cold list ,,, horse shit ...

oh ,,, yesterday i went to a mercedes benz dealler at the beverly blv. to see the s-class brabus and it was sold ,,, it didnt even last a week ,,, i asked the sales man there , how is the new s-class selling , then he said these cars are selling like hot cakes , CRAZY ...

It obviously takes a full year to collect the data not to mention you don't know how many cars are stocked from the manufacturer to begin with. The Crossfire doesn't sell well because the price is a bit steep (for a Chrysler) and no one wants a 2-seater coupe.

Some of you might be misreading this data. Just because a car is "Cold" doesn't mean that it's unpopular or a failure. It just means that the cars don't move quickly out of dealer inventory.

In the case of the CL, we can easily blame the car's age. It's a bona-fide selldown model for cryin' out loud. There's also unknowns - like inventory levels and buyer preferences. There shouldn't be any huge surprises about that.

By the same token, it may not be that the 6er or 7er are "smoking hot" in the way we traditionaly think about car demand - it just may be that the cars are poplar and BMW is timing production and inventory levels just right.

Don't forget - sample size can also be a big issue. Some regions might see 6ers flying off the lots while at the same time dealers in other places might be having a hard time.

Good points there Osna, you obviously have some knowledge about this business.




Leave it to Yannis to fan the j/k