New truck sales; waiting on chips

Run the 6.7 Cummins/Ram I use for hotshot into the shop for new front hubs at a dealer I trust. Walk down the hall and chat with the sales manager and we start discussing the lack of new trucks and I tell him some dealers I see in my cross country travels have 8 - 10 empty spaces between pickups on their lots, except the Japs who still have some hefty truck inventories.

It isn't just pickups and ton or slightly bigger trucks, it is ALL including Class 8 trucks unable to move product as no chips to complete.  Dealer lots are emptier than had been for twenty years, the heavy industry trucking companies that make orders YEARS in advance are now straggling out what should have been trade ins for months where warranties have ended and major repair expenses are encroaching where those repairs as well have NO PARTS to repair them as no chips to produce them yet no replacement trucks in the wings.

Maybe they will rethink the need for CHIPS..... Dont really think you need one for heat and air cond / seats / windows..... maybe the engine and trans shifting... but i even question that.

Local used car dealer always has 20-30 late model and program cars on lot. When China flu kicked in last summer he was down to 5-10 on the lot. Could not buy & sell and make any money. Things picked up into late fall early winter. After Sleepy took over it all went to h#ll. Last month took all he had left to auction and sold well over what locals would pay. He's not out of business yet...but has nothing on the lot. "Elections have consequences."

I have a 2013 F150.... 8 years old.... The COMPUTER decides if the alternator should charge the battery or not !!!  It monitors the OUT amps and adjusts the IN amps to the battery to match........ Put it on a trickle charger / battery charger and you really SCREW WITH ITS MIND !!

Things were a lot better when a truck was a truck  not an entertainment center  You turned the key and it went  no need for anything controlled by a computer  You had a crank to roll the windows up and down  and to lock the door you pushed down a button  Nowadays if the battery fries on you or you're in an accident that kills the power, you're trapped inside and can't get out  And who needs a back up camera  that's what mirrors are for  And if you wanted to move the seat, there's a lever for that  not and electric motor to burn out  For those that think they need a seat warmer, PUT SOME CLOTHES ON  Didn't your Mama teach you not to go out of the house in -20 degree weather with nothing more on than a tank top, pair or shorts and flipflops  If today's trucks didn't have all the useless crap that needs to be controlled with chips and computers  they would be reasonably priced and available  Maybe with the average person of today, there is a need for self leveling air shocks for when there's only a driver in the truck to keep it from leaning to the left 

half the crap is due to mandates by the EPA or SAFETY.... I have a 400 HP F150 4 x 4 that will get 20 MPG if you stay at 55 MPH..... that NEVER happened in 1980 !

Current State of the Art Electronics packages work on CAN-BUS systems.  Multiple Processors all talking to one another to operate the machine under you.  Very few systems operate independently where even lights or simple controls like blower speed only signal to a processor to operate that mechanism.  Lighter wiring, more processors, TONS more training to use new tech diagnostics that usually CANNOT pinpoint anything.

This whole microchip doesn't seem to be getting any better, according to this article.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/07/chip-sho........-have-major-real-world-consequences.html

"If you listen to Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, they all highlighted that there’s bottlenecks in capacity and they can’t get the chips they need to manufacture the new cars,” he said, adding that he thinks it will go on for 18 months.

What is the reason for the shortage? Any news about that? Thanks.

Must be some pickups on the lots? Guy across the drive from me came driving a brand new duramax in yesterday. His f250 blew up and he traded for this one last week.   Musta got lucky.