Stocks of new vehicles held by the automotive industry have increased over the last few years and this is having a negative impact on sales costs, according to the latest research published by the International Car Distribution Programme (ICDP).

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According to a report in Automobilwoche, the ICDP researchers found that the number of cars built without a specific customer order has increased significantly since 2002. In that year 54% of volume cars did have a specific customer order and were built-to-order. Today that figure has fallen to 41%.


The figure is higher for premium manufacturers, although that too has fallen from 74% to 66% in the same period. Only Japanese manufacturers are increasing the proportion of cars built-to-order, but because of long-distance shipping the overall level is low, at 34% today compared with 27% in 2002.

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