Rough Times For Chinese Car Dealerships

The US isn’t the only place where unsaleable vehicles are collecting dust on dealer lots. In the wake of a perfect storm of environmental and economic disturbances, the ambitous goals Chinese car dealerships have set for themselves are falling flat. Market analysts blame a combination of the massive snowstorms early in the year, the Sichuan earthquake, a flagging stock market, high gas prices, and growing tight-fistedness on the part of lenders—and they predict a slew of dealership closings in China by the end of 2008. Sucks to be them. But hey, does this mean there’ll be some oil left for the world after all?