Economy

I have sold cars for almost 40 years, ordered thousands of cars and bought thousands of used cars at the auctions and I have found consumers overwhelmingly want well equipped cars with all the gadgets. This most obvious in the full size truck market where consumers can buy a base model for under $30,000 but retail customer won’t buy that “fleet” truck. When they see that basic truck they soon want 4 doors, 4 wheel drive, power equipment, more powerful engine, navigation, bigger back up camera, chrome wheels, metallic paint, blind spot, active braking, satellite radio, etc. Customers have driven the price up to a $50,000+ Average price for full size trucks. Dealers have found that more expensive trucks have a quicker “turn” rate so when you go to the lot that’s what dealers offer. Customers want more and more “bells and whistles” and therefore more semiconductors. The car industry is actually one of the more competitive marketplaces in our economy.