Demand for new- and used-vehicles will not abate any time soon due to the tremendous pent-up demand that will carry through calendar-year 2022. Industry-wide (both retail and fleet), it is estimated that there were 4 million vehicles worth of pent-up demand at the start of calendar-year 2022.
January 30, 2022
This State of the Fleet Industry episode covers the impact of the parts shortage, revelations of the pandemic on the auto industry, as well as what's causing the supply chain disruption.
November 8, 2021
There were a slew of OEM‐related ordering, production, and cancellation challenges. Throughout the model-year, there were large shifts in buildout times as well as a number of post‐buildout cancellations of accepted orders.
October 11, 2021
Automotive Fleet views itself as a facilitator to provide a platform for different voices from the industry to sound-off on today’s challenges. This regular column is designed to encourage discourse for fleet professionals to let their voices be heard to their peers and other industry professionals. Here is what is top of mind for North American fleet professionals on the issue of inventory constraints and vehicle availability.
July 25, 2021
Two universal challenges faced by fleet managers in the 2021 model-year were longer lead times and tight product availability, particularly constrained was van and truck chassis availability. The COVID lockdowns in 2020 and the shutdown of all North American assembly plants from mid-March to mid-May 2020 triggered a domino effect resulting in delays with the new model-year bid process during a period of widespread budget constraints.
June 25, 2021
Upfitters experienced a whipsaw effect of robust fleet orders straining their pre-pandemic production capacity and within the space of a month were struggling with chassis shortages due to the suspension of vehicle production.
September 29, 2020
During the pre-pandemic period, 2020 OTD became extended due to a GM strike and strong order demand. The onset of the pandemic nearly halted OTD by idling non-essential fleets and closure of all OEM assembly plants.
September 29, 2020
During the 2020 model-year, the fleet industry did not experience significant railcar-related issues as seen in past model-years. However, fleets did report transportation issues with car haulers and last-mile deliveries to the dealers.
September 29, 2020
Strong demand for light- and medium-duty trucks in the 2019 model-year resulting in widespread backlogs at upfitters delaying some ship-thru units, impacting order-to-delivery times for both light- and medium-duty trucks.
October 9, 2019
In MY-2019, ongoing railcar shortages created huge backlogs of vehicles needing to be shipped. The railcar shortage has been a key factor for fleet delivery delays for the past 20 years. The question is when does it get fixed?
October 9, 2019
For the past several model years, order-to-delivery times for high-volume work trucks and vans have increased due to strong demand. Vocational trucks are vulnerable to OTD delays because fleet orders are usually concentrated among a handful of models.
September 27, 2019
Fleet order-to-delivery times for model-year 2019 increased in comparison to those in MY-2018. Delays were caused by rail constraints, plant downtimes, truck driver shortages, production capacity strains, and early order cutoffs.
September 24, 2019
The majority of fleets report new-vehicle acquisitions will continue to be elevated due to strong business growth, comparable to MY-2019, with most forecasting an increase or continuation of similar order volume in MY-2020.
July 16, 2019
A proverb is a phrase that gives real-world advice learned from practical experience. Upfitting is complicated and there are many opportunities to make mistakes, sometimes very expensive ones. Here are 10 proverbs for a successful upfit.
June 24, 2019
To get the pulse of the vocational truck and van market, I reached out to a wide cross-section of fleet managers around the country to find out what’s on their minds. Here’s a snapshot of what they told me.
November 7, 2018
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