The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to impact the market for new vehicles. The worldwide chip shortage, a result of automakers curbing production during lockdown and an industry shift towards the manufacturing of personal electronics, has driven the prices of new vehicles to record highs. An overall shortage of new vehicles is expected to continue through the next year, and prices for 2023 models across all major manufacturers are expected to increase significantly. However, the inventory shortage is slowly improving, and Sunset Vans recommends pre-ordering your vehicle now before prices inevitably surge further.
There have been some positive trends this year. Though modern vehicles do contain hundreds of processing chips, these chips aren’t the same advanced processors you may find in the latest PCs, Macbooks, and smartphones. The microchip industry has begun a shift towards improving its production capacity to meet the demands of automakers by building older, lighter, and more inexpensive chips. Electronic Engineering Journal cites a new report from Semi, the industry association that serves electronics manufacturers, noting that capacity for building older chip models “increased 6% in 2021, is expected to increase by 5% in 2022, and will increase again by another 3% in 2023.”
While an increase of chip supply may produce a little more vehicle inventory, it doesn’t guarantee that prices will go down for new vehicles. Ford, RAM, and other major manufacturers are still capping their production numbers and keeping inventory generally low. Vehicle prices will continue to increase. With no end to the crisis in sight, it may be prudent to consider how long you’re willing to wait for your accessibility van and if you’d regret paying more later.
We will continue to monitor the supply chain and provide you updates in a commitment to bringing you the quality commercial vans we have for decades. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of our customers for their patience during these times. We appreciate your willingness to adapt to the evolving pricing and inventory situation. To support our customers who may not be able to wait until next year, Sunset Vans will set aside roughly 25 – 30 vehicles and make them available to customers who may have missed out on pre-ordering for 2022. This small group of available vans will be the last units available until 2023.
In addition, we only have a small window within the next 2 weeks to place pre orders to hold 2023 vans for the next year. Please plan ahead and forecast with your sales rep for the next 18 months to keep your fleet running or plan for growth.
Call Sunset Vans today to inquire about our inventory of gas and fully electric vans, featuring accessible conversion kits that are fully FMVSS compliant, 301 crash tested, CARB compliant, and inspected to ensure maximum safety. We’re here for you and will do our best to help you get through these unprecedented times.
