Hundreds of Thousands of Brand New Unsold Cars Parked Worldwide to Rot in Car Graveyards

I saw this the other day its crazy.

I was going to put up a new thread on it. But i need 20 posts before I can create a new thread.

It reminds me of the movie blood diamond were the company controlled the supply of diamonds to keep the price high.
They cant halt production because then they would have to lay people off. So they just keep making them putting them in a car lot and waiting untill they can sell them at a big profit.

The photos used in the OP's post are from a 2008 New York Times article called "Pileup at the Port"

The "pileup" of imported cars at the port was a result of the 2008 market crash and overall worldwide economy slump. As evidenced in the article/photos, it resulted in a lot of new cars stockpiled in holding yards.

I don't believe the claim made in the OP is accurate, especially as it is misrepresenting photos from an event that occurred in 2008. This is not directed at the topic poster, as they had noted they are recycling another members abandoned topic from a while back.

Source of photos: Worldwide Auto Inventory Glut in Pictures circa 2008-2009.

Growing stocks of unsold cars around the world

Carmakers around the world are cutting production as inventories build up to unprecedented levels. Storage areas and docksides are now packed with vast expanses of unsold cars as demand slumps

Remember, this was shortly after the economic crash of 2008. The claim that these photos are of 2014, 2015 models is erroneous at best.

originally posted by: Lil Drummerboy

kinda have to wonder how long they can keep printing money to "keep things afloat"

As long as they want and as long as we keep taking it. The dollar doesn't have gold backing to determine its worth. At the end of the day, after all the financial experts weigh in, tell how the economy works, tell us how everything is intrinsically tied together in order to make the machine as well oiled as it is so everything can keep running smoothly, the dollar is like a house: It's worth is dependant only on how bad someone wants it.

Kinda like a Bitcoin.

People don't see that though because they like all the candy coating that the "experts" puts on all of it. Admitting that it's all a house of cards would freak people out too much. They'll take security over reality.

The cars parked at Sheerness are mainly Japanese imports they are sitting next to the docks after being unloaded from cargo ships ready to be distributed to dealerships etc around the UK.

www.ikmphotos.co.uk...

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
I'm just wondering why the makers don't take them back and reuse the parts?? We're all supposed to be recycling mad these days!

IN the US the government has the GSA fleet.
the government buys about 20,000 to 50,000 non-tactical cars and trucks and puts them in storage.
as a agency need them they are put into use.

if not needed in 5 years they are sold.

This is the US emergency fleet and there for immediate use in a national emergency, Hand the government driver the keys and a GSA fuel and service card and he is ready to go.

My guess is the UK government has a version of the US GSA fleet and that is what the photos are of.
www.gsa.gov...
www.government-fleet.com...

I work for a dealership and I'm pretty darn sure this isn't what happens. I can't speak for the manufacturer level of these things but I can tell you nothing gets "sent back" from here. That would likely bankrupt the entire company if they were just sent off to rot.

-some new year models seem to have been delayed in 2014 because there were still too many of the last model. As in, they kept shipping 2013s until November or December in some cases, when other models had 2014s coming as early as July. We just got two 2015s of one model last week. For many models, we had very few or none in inventory during the time they stopped shipping '13s and started shipping' 14s.

-customers often want the new car from last year because we run higher and higher discounts on them (and bonuses for the salesman who sells it) the longer they sit. At one point we were having to reach out to other dealerships just to get last year's model because of the demand due to promotions. I've never personally seen a car sit here on the lot longer than about 300 days as we make sure to run specials on the "oldest" new cars regardless if it's this year's model or last.

I take care of what I buy, after all I worked my arse off for it. Last time I bought a car was almost ten years ago and it looks new. A good friend of mine says, "by the best you can afford then take care of it."

"YOU GET A NEW CAR!
& YOU GET A NEW CAR!
& YOU GET A NEW CAR!"

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Absolutely sickening.

I knew this occurred, but I think the scale of it is greater than I imagined. Apparently it makes better business sense to get virtually no compensation for the costs of production as opposed to some compensation through a price reduction. The only thing I can figure they are thinking is that if they sell all these cars at reduced prices, then they will not be able to sell as many of the newest models at a high profit. So essentially they are probably taking the loss because they don't want to sell cars at a lower profit margin.

I think the wasting of raw materials is what I am most outraged about. So apparently few if any of these cars find their way to the dealership. I just bought a used Toyota a couple of months ago at a dealership, and I didn't notice any brand new cars from three or so years ago. I saw the newest cars, and the only models that were say three years old were used. Obviously there should theoretically be a plethora of 09's, 10's, 11's, 12's, and 13's that have never been used, but where are they? It wouldn't surprise me if they made a hefty profit off of used cars, especially if they can get the car for a little of nothing on trade-in, and then resell them. They could have someone trade in a 2010 whatever and give them far less than the blue book value, and then turn around and sell it for a profit of thousands of dollars.

I think it would make sense to get something for the new cars from a few years ago as opposed to nothing, so like I said, all I can figure is that they don't do this because then people wouldn't buy as many brand new 14 or 15 cars.

a reply to: Ameilia

This is simply one of the most fascinating stories I have ever read.

One might think Toyota's lean/6 sigma method to manufacturing would have helped avoid this kind of waste

Seems no different to me than the government paying farmers to plow their crops under or Cartels regulating supply of certain products like deBeers with diamonds or OPEC with oil to maintain a certain price support.

It's crazy in my book but think it happens in many sectors in every economy...

Don't even think it's that wasteful - i'm sure the government requires these cars to be recycled at some point...people need jobs - how many people are employed in the production of a car - it's one of the last manufacturing industy's the US has left next to Defense.

I'm not even a union guy & have no problem with this...how is it wasteful - do we want everyone driving in a Chinese sweatshop car or truck sold at Walmart for $19.99 & the US Auto industry out of business in a year?

You've got to understand how many people, secretaries, roofers, truckers, parts and contractors, auto workers, construction workers etc...are employed doing this. 100's and 100's of thousands of direct and in-direct companies jobs (like advertisers, print companies, office workers), contractors, suppliers, truckers, distributors etc etc etc...around the world at these companies are employees, they buy houses, send kids to college, support their families.....

These cars sit and they know they will...but do you realize, how BAD it would be for those nearly 1,000,000 workers and companies who exist only to make more cars...if they STOPPED making them?

I don't think I ever admitted this here ...but I work at Ford Motor Company in Michigan US, and every day at just 1 of HUNDREDS of production plants...I see 1,000's of people...and that is just ONE place. There are THOUSANDS of other companies that employ their workers to supply the auto industry.

I think you should think that through....and if you cant see it...I know of a few 1,000,000 employed people with families that will disagree with you.

Wasteful? Yes. Necessary? Yes...unless you'd like to tell these workers to stop working because you think they should stop making so many cars....

That is reality...twisted yes...but necessary. I hope you can see that....

LOL I think what you are actually looking at is where they unload cars from ships. I live near the port of Baltimore and I have watched them unload mega ships the size of cruise ships. 11 plus decks of new cars. isn't it strange they are in groups of the same model same color, way too many to be surplus. If this in the pictures as claimed happened year after year, well the American car industry would be out of business. The Japanese maybe not they are subsidized by their government, that is why us the Americans are having a tough time competing with them, that is another story.

a reply to: Ameilia

Its not just cars, unfortunately its not feasible to store cars in warehouses so you can see them stored as shown in your photographs.

I used to work for what was then (dont know if it is now) the most efficient car manufacturing plant in Europe producing 1 vehicle every minute on two production lines, working 2 shifts, almost 48 weeks per year. Thats a lot of cars. We used to ask ourselves, where are all these cars going, we used to laugh and say that they pushed them off the ferries into the middle of the North Sea rather than the destination port in Amsterdam. Now, this is a manufacturer that is not the most favorite among consumers in Europe (Nissan) so imagine what the likes of Ford and GM are producing. When i worked there it was not about market demand, more about efficiency and keeping people employed.

Now i work in the White Goods industry (cookers) 4 production lines, 2 shifts, 700 units per shift (per line), 46 weeks per year ..... thats a lot of cookers. I know Europe is a big place but are there really 2800 people across this continent, every day, going into shops and buying a new cooker? I know i have not replaced my Rangemaster in the 8 years i have had it!! Where are all of these units going? i know i have seen gazzilions of them in warehouses ....... you would never see them photographed from the air as shown in the car photo's in the OP but they are there, just covered by a building, be it large buildings.

Funny thing last week, i had a field service failure report last week ..... a customer complaining about a fault on his "New" machine that he had had for only 1 week. I checked the serial number ...... his new machine was actually built the back end of 2011 ........... how new????

Thats 2 examples of my experience, on two different product types .............. the mind boggles

a reply to: Ameilia

One would think that they would at least mark them down to cost price, just to get rid of them and get their money back
Can't sell them with the cars in a grave yard like that

What a waste!!

And yes, an abandoned vehicle will deteriorate/rust/rot just sitting there, like an empty house does

F&S

I would never consider a new car.

Theres just hardly any difference between models year to year any more, slightly better GPS or an alarm thats key fob works one more meter away.

The only real difference is that a used card may have been driven hard and have invisible faults, but if you know anything about buying cars you will know to buy off old ladies who never leave town, stuff like that - get a perfectly good model a few years old with barely any miles for a fraction of the price.