[LuvMyE92]

Clipped from an online story:

“We’ll never go back to the level of inventories that we held pre-pandemic because we’ve learned we can be much more efficient,” GM CEO Mary Barra told reporters last year.

BMW Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter told the Financial Times last fall that the automaker plans to “clearly stick with … the way we manage supply to keep our pricing power at the current level.”

Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG has the same idea. “We will consciously undersupply demand level,” Daimler’s CFO Harald Wilhelm told FT.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has suggested that the company may move closer to a build-to-order business model, though he recently promised dealerships Ford would not sell cars directly to customers, like Tesla does.

This is not good news for those of us who are used to the old days, when you could buy nearly anything - often including an M car - for a substantial discount. And BMW raised prices last year (at least they did on my car!) which isn't helping.