Some 12,700 Ford, GM and Stellantis auto workers walked off the job after their current UAW contract expired at midnight on Thursday.
Car buyers are no longer contending with the chip shortages that led to a scarcity of new cars during the pandemic and sent used-car prices soaring, but anyone looking to purchase a car these days is still in for a bumpy ride.
Electric-car maker Tesla TSLA, +1.75%, which has a nonunionized workforce, could see an opening for more market clout in the long run, experts add.Even with pandemic supply-chain snags in the rearview mirror, this is still a tough time for car buyers. Inflation has gnawed at consumers’ budgets and rising interest rates have made car loans more expensive. The cost of cars is still high, and bargains are hard to find.
It’s been nearly two and a half years since the car industry had as many unsold cars as it does now, according to Cox Automotive. The 2 million unsold cars in inventory in September represents a 68% increase over the same point last year, Michelle Krebs, an executive analyst at Cox Automotive, wrote in a blog post.
For that reason, Erik Gordon, a professor of business at the University of Michigan, isn’t expecting any immediate post-strike jump in Tesla sales. The average list price on a new non-Tesla EV was $68,383, according to Cox Automotive. People buying Teslas in July spent an average of $54,660, lower than the roughly $62,000 average they spent in January, Cox Automotive said.
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