There is no doubt that the car market crash of 2025 is underway. How hard and how quick it crashes is still up for debate though.
In this video I talk through how the car market crash of 2025 has started by showcasing the specific stats, facts and figures that prove that while also answering the question: “What does a modern day crash actually look like in the auto industry??” And: “What are some indicators that you’ll begin to see from your local dealerships heading toward bankruptcy?”
Talking points include:
Rams takings 460 days to sell
Tundra over 220 days
Tacomas 150
Ford Broncos (non-Raptor trims) are sitting 180-200 days. Raptor trims 80-100 days.
People are tapped out…
National Average Negative Equity is $7200
National average Credit Crd debt for an individual is $7236… increases each qtr
Inflated MSRPs, combined with inflated interest rates, inflated inventory levels, and inflated insurance rates… doesn’t bode well for auto sales. People are saying No!
MSRPs have risen 42% across the board… some manufacturers seeing raises of over 50% (like Jeep)
Stellantis stock down over 50% since start of year
Stellantis ceo resigned just before giving a clean warning of what the car market is going up to be in 2025
CFO at Nissan resigned
Nissan announced 9K layoffs worldwide
$760 average payment for new vehicle 525 for used
Financial anchors weighing people down
National average interest rates went down!
7% in Nov… NEW / 11% USED
Insurance premiums are spurring out of control… over doubled in the last 2.5 years…
Every stat is screaming a warning of what’s ahead…
Interest rates are at 7% for new… 11.1% for used
Auto industry strikes are continuing at production line workers are being laid off
Stellantis is closing production plants and laying off 1000s of employees.
Nissan cutting 9000 jobs globally
Ford cutting over 4000 jobs globally
Volkswagen cutting 3000+ people this year… they’ve vowed to cut over 35K jobs by 2030.
Stellantis was going to cut over 1100 workers from their Toledo south assembly plant (where the Jeep wrangler is made)… but just reeled it back to 125 employees.
ALSO Impacting automotive parts production too..
Michelins tire company to cut 1250 or more people…
Pell City auto parts plant in AL to cut 140 employees…
Automotive production layoffs in Detroit are leading the charge in Michigan’s quickly rising unemployment rate.
Dealers are becoming increasingly frustrated… MSRPs have risen tremendously over last 5 years. They can sell inventory.
Shareholders are becoming increasingly frustrated… no sales and misleading inventory vs sales reports.
On top of all that… quality have gone down!
BMW, Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen are beginning to crumble too. Strikes… huge hits to their profit margins.
People are no longer making car payments… first thing to go amongst all major bills is auto payments 23% increase
Which is why we’re seeing 1/5 auto loans get denied this last quarter; that’s going to get worse.
Wholesale sales dropped 18% over last quarter which is unprecedented. That will ripple to the retail market in the coming months…
Profit margins on vehicles have gotten out of hand… the price gap between MSRP and invoice has grown.
EV sales have come to a screeching halt… outside of Tesla. Rivian actually had the WORST performance stock this year. 55% loss in share price.
Followed by another EV company… Lucid with a 48% loss.
Mach E mustangs and F150 Lightnings are piling up unsold. Can’t even incentivize them enough to move the metal.
Inventory levels nearing 3M in the US. Highest growth rate emerge ever seen. 120% increase since 2023.
GM knows how to navigate times like this… nothing new. They actually saw the highest stock increase over 2024… 55% gain.
Good news is with very few exceptions, you find any markups right now. Unless the dealer is simply ignorant.
Toyota TRD Pro trims, Trailhunters, Ram TRXs, Ford F150 Raptors are discounted… G63 AMGs are MSRP and used examples are well below now. Civic Type Rs.
What does a crash in the auto industry actually look like??
It isn’t what people dream of… giving cars away. A crash is a dealership cutting losses before they’re forced to close. That generally means 10-20% below invoice.
The dealers that refuse to do that will go belly up and have to turn back in their vehicles to the manufacturer.
Greed will literally be the death of many dealerships in 2025.
I don’t think Government bailouts aren’t coming so easily this time around. And I hope they don’t. Let dealers reap what they sow.