New car dealers warn: Bargaining power is not in the hands of buyers, there is nothing to sell

Faces interference

Tom Didžbalis, Ford Business Manager at Inchcape Motors, spoke at the beginning of Knowledge Radio’s Business Pulse that there are two ways to buy a new car. The first way, buy the one that is in stock and was made before, the second, order its production.

“Specifically for our business, so far, at least for a few months, we don’t see any problems and we really have enough cars to meet the growing demand.

If there are some interruptions in the production of cars from production, there would be more waiting time for those cars than the standard, ”he said.

Vitalijus Eidimtas, representative of a Peugeot importer in Lithuania, confirmed that the current situation in his company is such that they lack the cars that they have to deliver to customers, that is, demand exceeds supply.

“It just came to our notice then. I would be very optimistic, but I will be a realistic optimist that it is just getting started.

It is a public secret that there is a global microprocessor shortage problem and that is why we are feeling the consequences in the automotive industry as well. In other words, deliveries stagnate, production of certain models stops, ”he said, adding that the working hours of certain factories are also optimized.

T. Didžbalis added that he agrees that the problem of missing components is just beginning.

“All the currently missing industries will not be saturated at once, and it is very difficult to predict how long this could take,” he said.

The demand is huge

V. Eidimt assured that although the demand for new cars in Lithuania has increased today, this figure would be ten times higher in Europe.

“It just came to our attention then. Again, the same problem, for lack of details,” he said.

In general, seeing that the situation changes today, he said that he saw two aspects.

“Lithuanian economists see that the market is overheating. This means that this is only now a consequence of the pandemic we are feeling. And if it stabilizes, something will stabilize normally.

Another parameter, the situation in the automotive industry will stabilize when the pandemic calms down, because now it only seems to us that a year has passed and everything should return to normal, but I think that now we are beginning to feel the consequences. “Said the representative of the Peugeot importer.

According to T. Didžbalis, now buyers have already returned to the automobile market. Not so much new customers are lacking as those who have postponed their plans to buy the machine due to the pandemic. According to him, the increase in demand has been felt since March of this year.

“But the factories, due to their closure in the middle of last year, cannot supply so many cars so quickly because the processes are large, they lack some details,” he concluded, saying that with optimism the situation should return to normal. at the end of the year – 2022 can be difficult.

Bargaining power is not in the hands of buyers

When asked if the situation we see today will make new cars more expensive, representatives said their cheaper will certainly not be seen.

“I would like to say that this will not have an impact on price changes, but just logically thinking about what is happening in the global economy with inflation, it is obvious that prices cannot stay in the same place.

Rejecting inflation, I think it still has the automatic consequence of having nothing to sell, it won’t sell you. The fact that no. You may not be able to buy cars much cheaper than before, I mean the bargaining method and the like. I’m not saying that the cars will be expensive, but they won’t be cheap, that’s a fact, “said Peugeot importer V. Eidimt.

T. Didžbalis, Ford Business Manager at Inchcape Motors, shared this view.

“I would not be inclined to think that cars should be very expensive. In the long run, of course, they get more expensive every year and already this year, but I totally agree that the bargaining power of buyers will decrease and this will probably be the result of that increase, “he said, considering that in two years, cars would cost about 10 percent more.