Vehicles are displayed for sale at an AutoNation car dealership on April 21, 2022 in Valencia, California.Mario Tama | Getty ImagesDETROIT — New cars are slowly becoming more widely available, as supply chain bottlenecks finally start to ease. But now, an increasing number of Americans might not want them or be able to afford them.With the Federal Reserve aggressively hiking interest rates to fight inflation, consumers are finding that the cost of financing a new car is suddenly a lot higher than it was even earlier this year. That’s expected to cut demand and add new pressure to the auto industry, which had been struggling with depleted inventories during the pandemic.”The irony for the auto market is that just as the industry is poised to start seeing volumes increase from supply-constrained recession-like low levels, the rapid movement in interest rates is reducing demand,” C …
