Where Are All the Sports Cars, Heavy-Duty Trucks?

Even as temperatures dropped and holiday shopping began, auto shoppers’ pocketbooks weren’t stretched too thin to show some interest in the sports car market.

For the second month in a row, pre-owned vehicles in high demand and short supply are mostly sporty models, sporty-luxury models and some utilities, mostly on the luxury end. That’s according to the November scarcity report from AutoTrader.com

“This is a reflection of an improved economy and increased discretionary income that has people shopping these popular segments — both new and used,” Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at AutoTrader, told Auto Remarketing.

The Honda S2000 came in as the No. 1 scarcest vehicle nationally on the certified pre-owned side of the market, while the Scion FR-S came in at No. 1 for late-model used vehicles.

“Sporty cars, both new and used, are making a comeback. The Honda S2000, no longer sold as new, was a popular one sold in limited volumes,” Krebs said.

Though an interest in sporty vehicles may not illustrate the usual seasonal trends, trucks are following a more consistent pattern for this time of year.

Last month, a number of heavy-duty trucks popped up on the scarcity list across the designate market areas for both CPO and late-model uses.

In fact, heavy-duty pickups from Ford, Chevrolet and GMC made the top 10 list of most-scarce used vehicles in some markets.

“This is a reflection of an improved economy and the surge in truck sales generally, both new and used,” said Krebs. “Strong truck sales correlate exactly with housing starts and construction, which are improving.”

Of the sport luxury brands on the scarcity lists this time around, Audi dominated.

CPO Audi models were in short supply nationally in November, and had three vehicles on the national scarcity list, the S4, A8 and S5.

The brand also had one vehicle on the scarcity lists in all 10 DMAs. Furthermore, the brand had three or more CPO models on six of those DMAs — Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, New York, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose and Washington, D.C..

 “For starters, Audi is an extremely desirable brand for consumers, new and used, and the 2013 AutoTrader.com Millennial Study showed Audi as an aspirational brand for the younger generation,” Krebs said.

She also pointed out new-car sales for the brand have been soaring and the OEM hopes to sell 200,000 new vehicles annually by 2018. As of the end of November, the automaker had sold 162,773 new vehicles, according to AutoTrader.com, well on its way to the aforementioned goal.

But there is one hangup.

“Audi models on the new car side are always in short supply, well below industry average. On the new car side this year, Audi has about an average 45-day supply, according to Kelley Blue Book’s analysis, significantly lower than the average 64-day supply for luxury vehicles,” Krebs said.

Supply may continue to be an issue for the luxury brand as Krebs pointed out a few elements make the automaker particularly attractive to today’s buyers.

“Audi vehicles have attributes strongly desired by today’s new- and used-car buyers — a combination of luxury and sport. Luxury car sales are booming as are sales of sporty vehicles,” said Krebs. “Audi combines the two, particularly with its sport S models, which pop up on the top scarcity lists in November, nationally and in specific markets. Plus, Audi adds the availability of all-wheel drive.”

To illustrate this point, Krebs offered Chicago as an example. Three of the Audi models made the CPO scarcity list for this DMA. And AutoTrader found luxury vehicle sales have been growing in this metro area significantly as of late.

“In a separate AutoTrader analysis, Chicago showed the greatest growth in luxury vehicle sales in the third quarter — up 30 percent from a year ago compared with the national increase of 20 percent — and that largely was due to increased share of interest in luxury compact utilities, with the Audi Q5 topping the list,” said Krebs. “Chicagoans clearly are basing their vehicle buying decisions on their memories of last winter’s brutally snowy weather.”

Porsche was another high-end nameplate to be in short supply last month, with several CPO models making the list of the top 10 scarcest vehicles. The Porsche 911, Cayman and Cayenne were particularly hard to find.  

The CPO 911 and Cayman too the No. 3 and No. 5 spots on the national CPO scarcity list, and the the Cayman and Cayenne showed up on several CPO regional scarcity lists.

“Porsche has been setting annual sales records on the new-car side every year since the recession and is on its way to another, with sales up 11.9 percent this year, outpacing the 6.8-percent increase in overall luxury sales,” Krebs said.