Car dealers are catching up with the rest of world. I've sold manufacturing production lines for over 30 yrs. It used to be that standard parts like valves, temperature controllers, instruments, etc. were on the shelf and shipped in a day or two when you ordered them. For the last 20+ years the lead times on these items has grown longer and longer. Now they don't even order the material to make them until they have an order for them. Car manufacturers have been on "just in time" inventories for years. They want the suppliers to stock things for them. They don't want to have that money sitting on a shelf. This system caused them problems with the chips. The car dealers are now getting their customers used to ordering what they want and waiting for it, as opposed to driving off the lot with it. I wonder how this will change car sales? The sales people would always do everything to not let the people off the lot without buying a car because they knew the minute they walked off the lot their odds of getting a sale went way down.
