(Detroit)
There has been a lot of gloom for the auto industry lately. With showrooms and dealerships almost completely shut, car buying has dropped off a cliff, leaving auto companies sitting on big inventories with little demand. However, early signs from China and Europe are showing that the lockdown may have led to pent up demand for cars. In one sense, there is natural pent up demand from the closure of dealerships, but more interestingly, there seems to be more demand than usual. This is because people are growingly afraid of public transportation—in some cases governments are warning against using public transit . This means people are seeking the relative safety of traveling in their own vehicles.
FINSUM: This idea of surplus demand for private vehicles because of fear of the virus makes perfect sense. Auto stocks undervalued?
