Inventory struggles top dealer council concerns

What’s foremost on the minds of dealers at the NADA Show? The same thing that’s been there for at least the past 18 months — inventory.

As days’ supply starts to creep up from historically low levels, most of the 26 dealer council leaders Automotive News interviewed for a series of Q&As mentioned some of the consequences of the inventory situation.

• Steve Gates, whose Gates Auto Family has three Toyota stores, said in his three decades as an auto dealer, he never thought he could run on inventory as lean as it was last year. “I was absolutely certain,” he said, “when this all started, I thought I needed to jump off a bridge because I didn’t think that there was any way we could survive with virtually no inventory.”
• Tyler Slade, operating partner at Tim Dahle Nissan Southtowne in suburban Salt Lake City, said valuable lessons have been learned. To overcome tight inventories, he said, “stores advertise inventory and post the Monroney with delivery ETAs on showroom windows. Customers can sign their name on the Monroney and put a deposit on the car. It’s efficient and has proven to be a good best practice.”
• Don Flow, CEO of Flow Automotive Cos. in Winston-Salem, N.C., which has four Audi stores, said Audi “lost market share last year, but it had nothing to do with turning the product. It had to do with access to the product. But the headline for all brands in 2023 is going to be the same: He who has the chips, wins.”