Mr. Korum believes a refreshed full lineup from Nissan has helped gross sales, however a scarcity of rivals’ fashions is drawing much more folks to his showroom, he stated.

“It’s not simply pickups,” he stated. “Folks that may’t discover RAV4s, CR-Vs and Civics are discovering the redesigned Rogue and Sentra to be a pleasing shock. Gross sales are rising. We might promote much more if we might get them.”

Edgar Zurita, 43, of Fairfax, Va., veered laborious from his preliminary selection. “We wanted numerous area and severely thought of a brand new Kia Telluride S.U.V., however the markup of $18,000 for one on the lot was an excessive amount of,” Mr. Zurita stated.

“So we switched to buying minivans,” he added. “Nonetheless, Kia Carnival and Toyota Sienna have been jacked up $12,000. I don’t like getting ripped off, so we ended up shopping for used, a 2019 Kia Sedona SXL van with 20,000 miles. It was so much inexpensive, and vans are extra helpful. Plus, I received’t lose as a lot in terms of resale.”

Kia was working wanting Tellurides earlier than the pandemic, because of sturdy gross sales. It just lately launched the Carnival minivan (the successor to Sedona) with an S.U.V. look. “Carnival has been an incredible fallback for these that may’t discover or don’t wish to await a Telluride,” stated James Bell, from Kia’s international media relations workplace.

“We’re seeing a resetting of the market,” he added. “Folks perceive that vans exist for a motive — they’re distinctive for hauling folks. We’re additionally seeing consumers which are rather more versatile, dropping down in measurement to Sportage when Sorento isn’t accessible or transferring as much as larger trim ranges once they wouldn’t earlier than.”

Used automobiles is likely to be extra reasonably priced than new ones, however their costs have skyrocketed, too. Carvana, which sells used automobiles on-line and delivers them, affords eye-opening figures. In response to its second-quarter outcomes, it bought 96 % extra automobiles than a 12 months earlier; income was up 198 %, to $3.3 billion; and gross revenue was $552 million, up 268 %.