Memorial Day Car Shoppers Will Find Fewer Selections: Report

Car shoppers looking for a new set of wheels over the Memorial Day weekend will discover the existing supply is lagging behind consumer demand, according to new research from Cars.com Inc CARS.

What's For Sale? Nearly 40% of shoppers are having problems finding the car they want. Inventory levels have fallen 33% for new cars and 28% for used cars, but this problem is due to circumstances beyond the dealers' control.

"Memorial Day weekend is traditionally a very active car-shopping holiday with significant discounts offered across the industry, but the global chip shortage and huge consumer demand continues to impact both new and used dealer inventory," said Kelsey Mays, Cars.com's assistant managing editor.

Sixty-one percent of shoppers are seeking a new car, compared to 24% aiming for a used vehicle. Forty-eight percent plan to buy a U.S. brand and 37% of shoppers are looking for an SUV, compared to 30% planning to buy a sedan and 11% buying a pickup truck.

As for the fueling source of their desired vehicle, 45% of shoppers are seeking gas-only vehicles while 44% are considering a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or an all-electric vehicle.

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Hue Know It: Separately, new research from Axalta Coating Systems Ltd AXTA, a Philadelphia-headquartered supplier of liquid and powder coatings, is highlighting the role color plays in the vehicle purchase process.

Axalta's "Automotive Color Preferences 2021 Consumer Survey" polled more than 4,000 participants aged 25 to 60 in four of the largest vehicle-producing countries: China, Germany, Mexico and the U.S.

Within the four countries, color was important for 99% of Chinese car buyers — though, ironically, the preferred colors were white (29%) and black (26%). In Germany, 83% of respondents ranked color as a main consideration in vehicle purchases, with black (32%) and blue (16%) as the preferred hues.

South of the border, 90% of Mexican respondents cited color as a key purchasing consideration, with four out of 10 of respondents vowing to change manufacturers if they didn't find the color they were looking for — the top color was red (22%).

The U.S. found fewer respondents identifying color as a purchasing factor (79%), with black as the favored color of both automobile and truck owners.

"The psychology of color is a powerful influencing factor in automotive purchasing decisions. Frequently, color reflects the personality of the vehicle owner," said Nancy Lockhart, global color manager of mobility coatings at Axalta. "What's interesting is that elegance, stability and positivity were predominant color characteristics desired by respondents surveyed."

(Photo by Christian Hoppe / Flickr Creative Commons.)