A Sea of Unwanted Imports

[IDemo]

Source: New York Times

By MATT RICHTEL
Published: November 18, 2008

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.

For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.

And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking lot, creating a vivid picture of a paralyzed auto business and an economy in peril.

“This is one way to look at the economy,” Art Wong, a spokesman for the port, said of the cars. “And it scares you to death.”





Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/business/economy/19ports.html

[flvegan]

1. Sad. I see two Prius' in that pic upon quick look.

[IDemo]

3. I noticed that, too

How bad is it when a Prius can't find a home?

[silverojo]

4. Who the hell can afford it? - n/t

[HughMoran]

2. I'll "park" one on my property if they run out of space

I'm sure they won't mind if I drive it every day until they need it back ;)

[XemaSab]

23. Hey, sitting there in the port it could get VANDALIZED

I have a safe garage here. :P

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. Portland Oregon too

I think their Mazda's

[chalky]

6. What on earth happens to all of these cars? Are they eventually bought?

Sold for parts? Squashed into cubes? What?

I remember a few years back someone posted a similar story about Hummers, along with a picture showing a sea of them taking over a nearby hotel parking lot. I wonder if those Hummers are still gathering dust in that hotel lot.

[Doctor Cynic]

7. They'll just have to suck it until the cars sell.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. They will be exported to nations where US vehicles can be registered as-is

mostly Latin America, some can goto Canada depending on their config and further afield. It actually isn't that uncommon, its done to protect the prices of the new model year.

[aggiesal]

12. Eventually they will be sold ...

But we have to realize that when the US stops buying cars,
Toyota, MB, and all other foreign car manufacturers will start
laying off workers. How can they continue to make more cars
when they can't sell the ones they are storing at the ports.

Then the economy in the foreign country starts to go bad.
It really starts a domino effect.

[Waiting For Everyman]

9. Why can't those foreigners build cars that people want?

:sarcasm:

[lithiumbomb]

11. i was going to use that line. :)

Everybody's hurting.

[Waiting For Everyman]

13. Jinx, ya owe me a coke!

:hi:

(In case you're younger than me, that doesn't mean you are a jinx, that's to prevent one when the same thing is said by two people. It was a kids' thing 'back when'... I must be into early senility, I dunno.)

[demigoddess]

10. More cars than drivers in my neighborhood and all over the area.

where houses have 2 drivers they have 4 or 5 cars. How many cars are american supposed to buy before we are glutted with the awful things?????? Also, since the gasoline price went down the hummers have come out of hiding, I saw three in my neighborhood the other day.

[snot]

14. where do you live???

[demigoddess]

18. a basic middle class neighborhood. Most of the men don't have college degrees

work fairly good jobs but can't afford to replace the roof when it needs it. Most of the women work. Houses go for 200 thou and we are considered a bad neighborhood to some.

[snot]

20. wow, v. interesting.

[MetaTrope]

15. Guess whoever's been shipping stolen cars from Texas to build car bombs in Iraq

has a more convenient supply on hand now.

[KeepItReal]

16. Local news here in L.A. only gave this a 30 second or less mention

Eom

[FarCenter]

17. Wonder why the NY Times went to Long Beach instead of Port Newark?

When landing at Newark airport, there are often acres of cars parked in the Port. They fill and empty depending on how many ships are unloading, at maybe 8000 vehicles per ship. It takes a fair amount of space to park as ship's worth of vehicles.

They are probably caught with too many ships at sea.

[underpants]

19. Look like a lawyers convention

they have any color you want... as long as it is gray or black

these things are usually like magnets for the suddenly audible ticking of biological clocks


Thank you. I'll be here all week :hi:

[ohio2007]

21. load them on a boat that will travel way to close to Somalia

[dysfunctional press]

22. a remote control boat with no crew...

when the pirates sieze it- refuse the ransom, and collect from the insurance company.