Did The Quake Affect The Supply Of Cars?
Who can forget the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan? I know that I can’t. But how much did it affect us here in the United States? I think that it did more than we know. With the price of crude oil going up, and Obama talking about tapping into our crude oil reserves that we have here, I know that is something that we should all be thinking about. I find the article below to be very interesting and maybe a glimpse of how it is going to affect us.
Last month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan severely reduced the supply of certain vehicles including fuel-efficient models that tend to grow in popularity when gasoline prices rise. Now vehicle shortages and anticipation of gas prices heading toward $5 per gallon this summer is pushing prices of some cars higher.
But the group of vehicles whose prices are expected to rise in the next week is surprisingly varied, according to TrueCar.com, an auto industry research and forecasting company.
While many of the cars on the list are fuel-efficient models that are getting hard to find in dealerships. But the mechanics of supply and demand are pushing up the prices of some big luxury vehicles like Lexus sedans and SUVs that are scarce in part because of quake-related production cuts .
Here are a few vehicles whose transaction prices are expected to rise this week. The chart shows prices as of Monday and the predicted increase.
Make/model April 17 price Expected increase
Toyota Prius $25,455, $522
Honda Insight $20,817 $227
Honda Civic Hybrid $23,484 $300
Chevrolet Volt $42,429 $697
Lexus LX 570 $83,920 $1,100
Lexus LS 460 $70,198 $919
Read the full and original article from The Wall Street Journal here.