When tallying the final numbers, Kelley Blue Book’s parent company Cox Automotive estimates Americans will have bought fewer cars this year than the previous year — and some of the people who sell giant bows agree.
Joe Pinsker of the Wall Street Journal reports, “makers and sellers of car bows, the oversize decorations that sit on hoods and roofs, report a steep decline in business this holiday season.”
King Size Bows, a major supplier of oversized ribbons to car dealerships and, we presume, royalty, says its sales are down 35% this season. Pennsylvania’s Car Bow Store also reports a drop, though they won’t put a figure on it.
A shortage of new cars has slowed down sales. Cox Automotive estimates that Americans will buy about 13.7 million vehicles this year — down from 15 million last year and 17 million in some pre-pandemic years.
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Not everyone who ties enormous ribbons into loops for a living says times are hard. Iowa-based oversized bow supplier Golden Openings says sales are up by 40% this year. Owner Kimberly Baeth tells the Journal that some dealerships are likelier to put holiday bows on cars when fewer cars sell. “They want to make [each sale] extra special,” she told Pinsker.
And yes, real people do give cars as gifts, dealers say. Tom Maoli, who owns Lexus of Route 10 in New Jersey, tells the Journal that roughly 15% of holiday-season car sales at his dealership are gifts. People tend to give them to their spouses; however, he suspects few are surprises. “I think they have had previous conversations,” he says.
