Top 17 2008 New Cars That Just Won't Sell - Some Obvious, Some Surprises

Washington DC July 16, 2008; The AIADA newsletter reported that as the economy worsens and every new auto industry sales report seems worse than the previous month's, will automakers still be able to sell every one of their vehicles?

"The misconception many people have about new-car sales is that the automaker is actually doing the selling to consumers. In reality, a manufacturer sells to a dealer, and it's up to the dealer to retail the inventory," Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research told BusinessWeek.

Once U.S. dealers buy a new vehicle at wholesale from the factory, it's up to them to sell it, period. In 20 years of keeping statistics, Spinella said the average number of days for a complete turnover of new-car inventory at a U.S. dealership has been 64 days. Today, the average is 73 days, vs. an average of 77 days in 1990, the worst year on record.

If there's a silver lining for the auto industry in the present downturn, it's that for the most part automakers are cutting production rather than swamping dealers with inventory. After all, too much supply drives down new-car prices, which hurts both the brand's reputation and the resale value of used cars.

Top 17 2008 New Cars That Just Won't Sell - Some Obvious, Some Surprises

Top 17 2008 New Cars That Just Won't Sell - First Half 2007 Vs. First Half 2008