U.S. car dealers face worst new-model drought in years

Automakers to redesign just 9% of lineup, below 20-year average of 14%

U.S. automakers are on pace to refresh a smaller share of their lineups than at any time in recent history, leaving dealers waiting years for new vehicles as the industry scrambles to retool after an abrupt pivot away from electric vehicles, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal, citing a report by veteran automotive analyst John Murphy, said automakers are expected to redesign just 9% of their lineup on average across the 2026 through 2028 model years — well below the 20-year average of 14%. The figure, which factors in sales volumes, would be even lower if not for General Motors’ redesign of its top-selling pickup trucks, according to the report.

“We’re in a total stall for new products,” said Murphy, a former Bank of America analyst.

The drought is a direct hangover from the industry’s massive shift to electric vehicles and its abrupt pullback. The billions bet on EVs diverted time and money from the types of models buyers crave today, from hybrids to V8-powered trucks, the Journal reported. Automakers rushed to build electric-vehicle lineups at the start of the decade, but demand fell short and then plummeted after the Trump administration last year ended subsidies and clean-air mandates.

The world’s car companies have since canceled or delayed dozens of existing or planned EV models, racking up more than $70 billion in charges and impairments.

The dearth of new entries is sparser now than in the years following the Covid pandemic, when the auto industry ground to a halt, and in the aftermath of the auto industry crisis of the 2007-09 recession. Analysts said it will be at least another year or two before car companies start churning out new models at their usual pace.

The lull comes amid already tepid U.S. auto sales as car buyers balk at high new-vehicle prices and seek relief from rising gas prices. Sales are down roughly 2% year-to-date, though demand picked up in September, according to a Cox Automotive estimate. GM and Ford Motor, with their truck-heavy lineups, have lost market share this year to Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Hyundai Motor, which have more hybrids and lower-cost offerings.

Carmakers are also late to roll out 2027 model-year vehicles — a result of dwindling redesigns, an industrywide push toward later rollouts and, in some cases, inventory gluts caused by slow-selling vehicles, analysts said.

The consequences are visible at Mark Trudell’s Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealership in Jackson, Michigan. The repair shop is a hive of activity, with service bays full of cars brought in by owners trying to eke out more miles, while outside the new-car lot has rows of unsold vehicles. Trudell, the general manager, is eager for Stellantis, the parent company of all three brands, to roll out new deals to help boost sales. A bright spot, he said, is the return of the Jeep Cherokee, which is starting to generate more sales.

“There is some stuff on the horizon,” he said. “But it’s going to take three years or more to get there.”

“There was a significant market shift that’s caused everybody to rethink things,” a Stellantis spokesman said. “This industry does not turn on a dime.”

Michael DiFeo, a New Jersey Cadillac dealer, described what he called an agonizing wait for fresh models. The Escalade, for instance, hasn’t seen a major redesign in more than six years, because GM’s premium brand went nearly all-in on EVs while culling a trio of gas-powered models. GM has since said it would revive one of those models and keep making another it had planned to cut.

“It’s real bad,” DiFeo said. “I literally have people saying, ‘I am not leasing this car again. It’s the same car and the price keeps going up.’”

“New cars have new stuff,” he said. “There is a point where people say—‘I am not going to buy that.’”

The dry stretch is hitting carmakers differently, said Erin Keating, an executive analyst at Cox. “You want to show the value of a price increase,” she said. Keating said Detroit automakers are missing out on newly popular segments — namely hybrids and affordable models — where Asian rivals with more varied offerings don’t have to wait for new arrivals to meet demand.

In the interim, automakers are leaning on appearance tweaks and special features to freshen up their lineups, rolling out retro throwbacks, special-edition paint packages and niche trim levels to keep buyers interested. The lineup includes a Jeep Wrangler dressed in fluorescent, 1980s nostalgia and a souped-up Mustang that starts at $100,000. Ford, especially, has embraced the strategy, adding off-road-ready versions of its pickups and SUVs, a street-racer-style compact Maverick pickup, and product tie-ins with Carhartt and Filson outdoor gear.

Auto executives are racing to fast-track made-over portfolios, with hulking trucks and SUVs, sedans and smaller pickups aimed at budget-conscious buyers, hybrids of all sizes and even new EVs on the way. Making the switch is a massive industrial U-turn: it takes months or years to retool factories and set up supply chains, and it comes as the world’s automakers navigate fallout from U.S. trade wars and soaring fuel prices. Most new offerings are set to hit the market in 2028 and beyond, the Journal reported.