Where the World's Unsold Cars Go To Die

[n2doc]

In the past several years, one of the topics covered in detail on these pages has been the surge in such gimmicks designed to disguise lack of demand and end customer sales, used extensively by US automotive manufacturers, better known as "channel stuffing", of which General Motors is particularly guilty and whose inventory at dealer lots just hit a new record high. But did you know that when it comes to flat or declining sales and stagnant end demand, channel stuffing is merely the beginning?

Presenting...

Where the World's Unsold Cars Go To Die (courtesy of Vincent Lewis' Unsold Cars)

Above is just a few of the thousands upon thousands of unsold cars at Sheerness, United Kingdom. Please do see this on Google Maps....type in Sheerness, United Kingdom. Look to the west coast, below River Thames next to River Medway. Left of A249, Brielle Way.

Timestamp: Friday, May 16th, 2014.

There are hundreds of places like this in the world today and they keep on piling up...

THE WORLDS UNSOLD CAR STOCKPILE

Houston...We have a problem!...Nobody is buying brand new cars anymore! Well they are, but not on the scale they once were. Millions of brand new unsold cars are just sitting redundant on runways and car parks around the world. There, they stay, slowly deteriorating without being maintained.

more

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

Maybe they can park them in China's ghost cities….

[NV Whino]

1. Wow! I'm stunned.

[kristopher]

68. At the sheer nonsense of the reasoning in the article? Me too.

If the problem was as claimed in the article, the solution is standard - cut production.

Duh.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. The insanity of post industrial capitalism continues.

[reformist2]

3. I was going to write the same thing. So wasteful! We need a new economic system.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. The sad thing is even the 0.01% know the system is totally busted.

[reformist2]

7. This also reveals how rigged the markets are - in a free market, prices would be collapsing!

Instead we have millions of cars rusting, and millions of homes sitting empty...

[redqueen]

8. +1

Capitalism is the crisis.

[pscot]

40. Amen!

[Travis_0004]

46. The cars are not rusting

Car companies are not stupid. Real Estate next to a port is super expensive. If they were going to let them rust, they would scrap them right away, or store them someplace where land is cheaper.

If you look at google maps, you can see that they are stored at a shipping port. In the picture I saw there was a container ship docked at the port. England sells about 5,000 cars a day, so 20,000 cars represents about 4 days inventory, and they need to have a buffer when they are having cars delivered from the US, Mexico, Japan, Korea.

I bought a Mazda new. It was about 60 days old. Hardly what I would call rusting out. When I bought it, it was not on the dealers lot. They had to pick it up. That means it was sitting somewhere until I came along and bought it, but it doesn't mean that they need to collopase prices on the cars, because they have lots filled with cars.

[Ikonoklast]

70. When one of these shows up at port, I wonder where people think they park

the automotive cargo upon delivery?



Now what do you do when three or five steamships show up loaded with automobiles?

Thousands upon thousands of vehicles in just one ship need to be put somewhere temporarily until loaded upon train or truck for further transport inland. They aren't going to drive them anywhere else, they sit at the port until loaded on railcars or car carriers.


Conversely, vehicles that are to be exported by manufacturers need to be stored somewhere until the ship shows up to be loaded.

It would seem many here have never been to a port to see just how much stuff of all description gets moved every day, incoming and outgoing.

Just one large port moves a staggering amount of commerce.

[AverageJoe90]

52. This, pretty much.

All of these cars, every single one.....could probably be sold to the needy for a reasonable, yet decently low price.....or better yet, even given away in some cases. But unfortunately, that isn't likely to happen. And we all know why.

[russspeakeasy]

37. +1

[Tom Ripley]

43. +1000

[marmar]

54. What Warren Stupidity said.

[giftedgirl77]

4. Speechless...

[arcane1]

5. The amount of waste in that photo is staggering.

So much has to go into propping up the "free" market

[reformist2]

10. I didn't see your post - I responded to someone else with the same comment!

First and foremost, the purpose of an economy ought to be a means by which goods and services are produced and distributed among the people. Profits are secondary. When you have the owners withholding products in order to preserve their profits, the economy is no longer serving its primary purpose.

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. Yet a couple of years ago if I said GM shouldn't exist

I'd have been howled off DU as anti-union.

So which is it this week? We need to buy buy buy to support union labor, or we need to never buy anything again?

[totodeinhere]

19. Yup, that's the great and saintly GM that willfully failed to recall small cars with faulty

ignition switches that have been linked to at least 13 deaths. But you're right. Fault GM at DU and be prepared for a serve backlash.

[flvegan]

11. How odd that some of those SAME pics were used in 2009.

http://www.businessinsider.com/unsold-cars-around-the-world-2009-2

and

http://www.theguardian.com/business/gallery/2009/jan/16/unsold-cars

[Ikonoklast]

25. Because the same prediction of doom that was used in 2009...and 2011...and 2012...

and February of this year.

February, the same month that assembled automotive stock has traditionally been at its highest every single year, in advance of the buying rush that starts two months later.

[Petrushka]

42. See link at reply #41. (eom)

[NBachers]

12. Jeez, I could use one of those cars to replace my '97 Corolla

[johnnyreb]

14. Hands off, consumer!

We went to a lot of trouble and a few wars to put newer cars in a showroom near you.

[Kablooie]

18. But they all have the steering wheel on the right.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. What someone finds on Google Maps is not an accurate measure

of anything happening now. Google Maps images are up to 10 years old (in the UK, anyway).

[liberal N proud]

15. They would rather park them than take a loss at the sale.

That's what happens when people can no longer afford your product.

[Travis_0004]

35. If there are 25,000 cars there, it represents about 5 days of sales volume

Even if its 50,000 cars, thats only 10 days inventory. If they are importing cars from America, Mexico, Japan, it takes time for carriers to arrive, so it may not be as excessive as you think. If nobody was buying them, they should shut the factory down for a week or as long as needed to let demand catch up. They are not going to scrap them.

[Munificence]

72. It's all about stock prices.

In channel stuffing it is listed a sale when the vehicle goes from the automotive supplier to the dealer. If the car does not sell then it is sent back to the manufacturer.

Channel stuffing is exceptionally deceptive as it's all about showing receivables as the manufacturer gets to list it as a "sell" even though the dealer may never sell that vehicle....it instead gets sent back and then has to be taken off the books as a receivable. So why not stuff the shit out of the "channel" to make it appear you are doing well....perpetual profit and stock price is all they are concerned about.

Smoke and mirrors, fuzzy math.


I can say that I know of no one in my extended family or circle of friends that have purchased a new car in the past 5 years. It used to be common place for lots of new cars in the circle of family and friends....now they all have decided to keep their nice cars running for a few years. "120K miles" on a vehicle is just getting started in this day and age, if built right should hit 200K miles before any major expenses are needed. Used to be that 100K miles on a vehicle was unheard of, competition made everyone build better cars.

I know I have a 2001 Toyota 4 runner limited and a 2007 Toyota Sequoia limited in the drive that I know I will get at least 5 more years out of. The 4 runner was paid off in 2005 and the Sequoia was paid off in 2011 . They both still run and look like they did the day I bought them. Each have had one set of brakes and tires and the occasional oil change performed and that is it.... I have no need for a new car. And before I get flamed for driving those big SUV's please consider that there are 6 of us in my immediate family and we can't all fit in a mini cooper (well we could but those 3 child seats/booster seats would have to go)...it was big SUV's or a Yellow bus.

[Mr.Bill]

16. Those cars all got sold.

You paid for part of them if you bought a new car.

[underpants]

27. Great point

Also remember that the Feds buy a large amount every year basically as a subsidy.

[marble falls]

17. There's a Phillip K. Dick book in there somewhere.

[genwah]

57. There was already a John Steinbeck book there.

In his famous novel The Grapes of Wrath (Chapter 25), John Steinbeck described how food was destroyed during the Great Depression:

“Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people come for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges... A million people hungry, needing the fSruit – and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains.
And the smell of rot fills the country.
Burn coffee for fuel in the ships... Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out [with nets]. Slaughter the pigs and bury them...
And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificates – died of malnutrition – because the food must be forced to rot.”

[marble falls]

69. The Dick book would be Ubik

[WhiteTara]

20. Why the hell don't the sell them for less money and people

would buy them. This is another insanity.

[underpants]

28. Because everyone would wait to buy them at the lower price

[WhiteTara]

34. That's what I mean. Price all of them reasonably

and get rid of them. Car prices are more than my sister's first 3 bedroom house!

[oldhippie]

64. They are priced reasonably ...

... just more than you would like to be reasonable.

[Travis_0004]

36. Who said they are not being sold

England buys 5,000 cars a day. That represents less than 1 week of inventory. Since they Import a lot of cars, they have to have at least some inventory to keep up with spikes in Demand. I bought a Toyota which was made about 50 miles from where I live. The logistics to deliver it were very easy. When you have to order a car and have it shipped from the USA, mexico, or Japan, then things take time, and its good to build up a buffer. Those cars may be sold within 2-3 weeks for all I know.

[WhiteTara]

38. ummm

the title is where cars go to die. Here is the caption to photo of the cars
Above is just a few of the thousands upon thousands of unsold cars at Sheerness, United Kingdom. Please do see this on Google Maps....type in Sheerness, United Kingdom. Look to the west coast, below River Thames next to River Medway. Left of A249, Brielle Way.

Timestamp: Friday, May 16th, 2014.

There are hundreds of places like this in the world today and they keep on piling up...

so, that's what I was commenting on. And you're right, I don't know this article is true. We need verification.

[Cooley Hurd]

21. Dig me...

...but don't bury me.

Now I am in decay, by the dirty, angry bay...

[Ikonoklast]

22. What nonsense from Zerohedge. Those cars just don't sit there and rust, they are constantly being

moved into and out of inventory. New stock fills in as older models are sold, they have to have a certain number of models on hand due to lead times. You can't sell what you can't ship to the dealers, you need stock on hand ready to go or you lose customers who don't want to wait three months to get the car they want.

"Unsold" does NOT mean they aren't waiting to be destroyed, they are waiting for orders for them and to be shipped to dealers.


The so-called 'journalists' at Zerohedge are being deliberately misleading...I wonder what their agenda really is.

Anyone can check any of the automotive companies stock reports to see what the unsold, spoiled, damaged, used for testing, sold inventory is for each year, they account for every single unit.


Also automotive manufacturers have no problem furloughing employees and shutting assembly plants as needed. When ready-to-purchase inventory exceeds projected needs, that assembly line gets shut down.

[tammywammy]

39. +1

These are new cars waiting to be picked up for delivery to dealerships.

[IronLionZion]

44. But facts will never be as interesting as bullshit

sometimes we need the fox news versions of things so we can remember to always get outraged about something, always.

[Quixote1818]

63. That is 100% correct. I alerted the admins. This is bogus article

This is what is really going on: http://www.businessinsider.com/unsold-cars-around-the-world-2009-2

The cars are mostly just waiting to be shipped to dealers.

[kjones]

66. I got this from my grandpa, so I was already wary.

Critical thinking skills are important.

I mean, if these corporations have proven they will cut employs, benefits, wages, and even product safety
over mere dollars (*cough* Pinto), does anyone really think they'd produce tens of thousands of excess cars
at a loss (I'm not denying the world DOES have too many cars....well, the US at least. I'm saying these
companies aren't producing with no market.)
Just some dissonance there, when people talk on one hand of the crafty, cutthroat ways corps work to save
cents per car, and then on the other hand, talk about them producing thousands of cars only to crush them.

Besides that, the people who look at those lots and see unsold, uncrushed scrap don't seem to also look at
their local grocery store (full of unsold items) and see a compost heap. That's what a "store" is....there's a lot
of unsold stuff stored there. Cars just take up a little more room than canned goods and twinkies....make for
more dramatic pictures too.

[onehandle]

23. This is a weird tinfoil hat article with no real sources.

Not saying there aren't cars stacked up out there (they have to sit somewhere before being distributed). But who knows when and where these photos come from.

I could collect a bunch of photos of houses burning over years and write copy making it seem like houses are spontaneously catching fire all over the world.

[grasswire]

24. that is just nuts.

It's probably the same for other goods. Refrigerators, barbeques, and so on. Insanity.

[Turbineguy]

26. I remember worries in the late 1950's and '60's

about market saturation. How do you sell a car to somebody who already has a car? They seem to have worked that out.

[bvar22]

29. Doing my part.

I bought my LAST New Car in 1982.
I drive used cars now,
preferably bought directly from the previous owner.
I drive them until the wheels fall off,
and then get another.

[Submariner]

30. Click & Clack the Tappet Bros said always keep car till it drops

Tom & Ray said to get the most bang for your buck out of the vehicle you already have. Don't waste your money on a new one.

My Chevy runs as smooth today as when I got it new in 95, so although one of those new cars might be nice, $600/month payments for the next 5 years would bite it.

[Jamaal510]

31. If I had the money (and a license),

I'd definitely take one of those cars off the dealer's hands. As nervous as I get behind the wheel, I'm tired of walking everywhere and having to rely on public transit while watching other folks roll by in their rides.
I'm staying in a fairly small town for school now, but I still envy people who can drive. Motorists can get from Point A to B quicker (at whatever time of the day), they can blast their music, they don't have to walk around or wait for a bus in the elements, and it tends to be easier for guys who can drive to meet women. I'm not too car-savvy, though, so it doesn't matter much to me what a car looks like; I just want something safe and reliable.

[L0oniX]

32. 30K for a car that lasts 15-20 years vs 30k down payment on a home.

[armed_and_liberal]

33. Those are not British made cars!

There are no oil stains on the concrete!

[Petrushka]

41. Truth or fiction?

Fiction --->

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/u/Unsold-Cars.htm#.U3dNgijD6S0

[lumberjack_jeff]

47. Thanks. n/t

[MineralMan]

45. False. First, that photo is from 2009.

Second, cars that are manufactured are stored until they are shipped to dealers. Lots of dealers; lots of cars. For economy's sake, manufacturers try to estimate the number of cars in each model that will be needed during that model year. They operate their factories in a way that will produce that number of vehicles for each model. Sales of autos are seasonal to some degree, so there are often temporary surpluses, which will be cycled to Dealers when they are ordered by those dealers.

The only real unsold car inventory I know of was for Saab, after they announced the shutdown of the company. A fairly large number of Saabs in transit to dealers or recently manufactured went into storage, since the company was no longer in the business. What happened to them, in the end, I do not know.

[snooper2]

48. amazing how people will just believe random shit on the intertubes

I wonder if the Internet really is making us more ignorant

[LiberalEsto]

49. If they could put solar panels atop each one

they could generate megawatts

[onenote]

50. For those who simply assumed that this story was true

and there a number of you on this thread, I hope the experience teaches you a lesson about not believing something just because it was posted on the Internet.

[dhill926]

53. but….but….but….

[dembotoz]

51. been in parking lot like that at disney and i still can't find my car

[aikoaiko]

55. Please consider changing the OP title to be a false rumor.

[Liberal In Texas]

60. Yeah, wish people would at least check Snopes

before posting some hysterical internet screed.

[otohara]

56. Updated Today on Snopes

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

[CrispyQ]

58. You really have to click the link to grasp the scope.

As a collective I think we've gone insane.

~kick

[onenote]

62. You really have to read the other response to grasp the falseness

Seriously.

[CrispyQ]

65. I did, but the scope of the number of cars we are producing is still shocking.

Total denial about the state of our ecosystem.

[snooper2]

71. guess how many of these machines are running around the world

[Eleanors38]

59. Righteous indignation moment over. Go home, now...

see link in post #41.

[melm00se]

61. pah!

who needs facts when good righteous outrage can be substituted

[dipsydoodle]

67. Sheerness just happens to be one the UK's main import centres.

There were over 2 million new cars registered here 2012.

I'm not sure that picture is what it purports to be in terms of surplus stock.