Summary
- 2019 saw a slight dip in production and car sales after a decade of growth
- 2020 and the global pandemic shut down major parts of the automotive industry, most importantly parts suppliers
- As the world emerged from the pandemic, the ripple effect of needing to adopt “Just in time” supply chains, as well as the rise of people buying new cars online, saw prices rise
- This was exacerbated by the global silicon shortage that hit at the very tail end of 2019, and which the world is still recovering from
- The net effect is that most of the costs of supplies to build the cars we want are passed down to us, the end user
- We think that unless something miraculous happens, we will not see prices at pre-pandemic levels again, but such are the costs of buying a car in 2024
In 2020, the automotive industry ground to a nearly complete halt. Factories were closed, suppliers stopped production, and the supply chain as a whole was severely disrupted.
The global pandemic drastically decreased vehicle production for both 2020 and 2021, but more so than that, it brought about supply chain issues that have been festering ever since, with the bulk of the costs of those issues being passed on to the consumer.
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