PORT ANGELES — North Olympic Peninsula residents are interested in buying new cars, but a lack of supply is hampering auto dealers, four dealer representatives told a Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce audience Monday.

Earthquake and tsunami damage in Japan has seriously hampered the availability of some car brands, and the disappearance of many parts suppliers prevents American car makers from producing as many cars as the public is ready to buy, they said.

“We’re in negotiations for more cars,” Mark Ostroot, Price Ford-Lincoln general sales manager, said.

“We’re in a predicament — we can’t get enough for our customers,” he told a chamber audience of about 80 at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant for the chamber’s weekly membership luncheon.

Peninsula dealers find themselves with few new cars on their parking lots, but plenty of customers, they said. With a shortage of new cars, many buyers are turning to used cars.

“The demand is very different,” said Howie Ruddell, owner and general manager of Ruddell Auto Mall, which carries Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Hyundai new-vehicle brands.

“It’s driving up the price of used cars. We’re seeing price appreciation on used cars.”

Fewer people are trading in their used cars, so used vehicles are being sold at a premium — especially fuel-efficient cars.

Most Japanese auto plants are expected to be back in production by the end of July, but the 2008 economic crisis caused a long-term effect on auto production, said Dan Wilder Jr., owner of Wilder Auto Center.

Wilder Auto Mall sells Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Scion, Jeep and Volkswagen.

Japanese-produced cars are the most affected by the disaster in Japan, Wilder said.

However, there are other problems hindering all auto production.

Between 1999 and 2007, new auto sales in the U.S. averaged 16 million to 17 million a year, Ruddell said.

In 2008, when the U.S. economy dipped, that number plummeted to 13 million, and in 2009 only 10.2 million new cars were sold.

The drop meant the demise of many suppliers. Where there were once four companies that supplied car seats, only one or two now exist, he said.

Without those suppliers, the auto manufactures cannot increase production to meet the needs of an improving economy.

“It’s a global market,” Wilder said. “Mexico, China, Japan, the U.S. — parts come from everywhere.”

Simple things like paint pigments are in short supply, too.

Red pigments come from Japan, where supply lines have been severely disrupted, Koenig Chevrolet-Subaru sales manager Bill Koenig Jr. said.

“Red and burgundy cars are tough to get,” Koenig said.

Part of the increased demand is driven by the cost of gas and innovative new, fuel-efficient vehicles — such as the Chevy Volt, the new all-electric Nissan Leaf and the 11-year-old “veteran” of hybrid cars, the Toyota Prius — they said.

Honda is test-marketing a new hydrogen fuel car in California, Wilder said.

More fuel-efficient cars are expected to be available at Peninsula dealerships in the next few years.

“Ford is moving forward with technology — fuel technology and smart cars,” Ostroot said.

Some businesses are installing charging stations in their parking lots to attract owners of the new breed of all-electric cars, such as the Leaf.

In the not-so-distant future, 20 percent of cars will be electric, according to industry plans, Wilder said.

In terms of local growth, Price Ford-Lincoln’s new dealership lot on U.S. Highway 101 near the new Walmart Superstore is expected to open in October, doubling the number of cars it can display, Ostroot said.

One in four jobs in the U.S. are in some way related to the auto industry, Ruddell said.

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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.