With car makers upping the ante on manufacturers’ rebates and dealers cutting prices on ’05 models, some local operations are just trying to keep up with the demand. "We’ll run out by mid-December," Towbin Dodge General Sales Manager Will Tooros says of this year’s cars and trucks. "We’re going to the Midwest where they can’t get rid of them and we’re bringing them here."

There seemed to be no shortage of buyers as the countdown to Christmas began. On so-called Black Friday, Nov. 25, some car dealers were too busy with customers to even talk about sales. Those who could break away proclaimed that there is no better time to buy a new car.