Between recent discussion of the CAP fleet, the FBI super-spy fleet, and the usual flying school sales ... does Cessna actually sell any piston aircraft to private individuals anymore?

Sure. Not as much as they like, but they sure do.

if they're selling any columbia's, i'd guess they are all to private parties

Separate GA shipments thread - they sold 4 ttx last quarter.

I parked next to a 206 at Santa Fe last spring. Talking to the guy, said he'd bought it brand new two weeks prior.

Does Cessna sell any piston a/c to individuals?

Not really. They sell through the CSTARs. That's Cessna's name for dealers. The CSTAR sells the plan to individuals and flight schools. There are three types of Cessna outlets. CSTARs are airplane dealers. They sell new airplanes and some used planes. A CSTAR can also do certain fleet sales, but mainly to local fleet buyers like state governments and middling flight schools.

Service Centers are divided up into 100/200 centers and 300/400 centers. Jets have their own factory service centers. Service centers are empowered to do warranty work and sell parts with Cessna pricing. Cessna also handles service center inventory computing. So, the service centers can sell parts directly from Cessna or from their inventory to a customer. The wholesale parts price from Cessna is about 65% of suggested retail. Each Service Center gets a commission on every plan sold by the local CSTAR. That is to compensate them for being available to do warranty work more or less on demand. However, Cessna Service Centers are required to have a certain rather large amount of parts inventory on hand. (Remember, Cessna handles inventory computing, so they know exactly haw many flap hinges you have in your parts room.) Being a Cessna Service Center is a good deal if you can get it because if you make good relationships with the independent shops in your territory, you can sell them parts at a discount of MSRP and still make a nice profit.

Finally there are Cessna Pilot Centers. Those are company franchised flight schools. They get curriculum from Cessna and some swag. They are required to buy a certain number of Cessna 172s per year from their CSTAR. They do get a commission if they sell a new plane, 172 on up. Because of the purchase requirement the number of CPCs is certainly not what it was before 2008. Also, Cessna has reduced the purchase requirement some to help the CPCs.

All three types get Cessna specific training. This is probably most useful for the service centers. They also get documentation provided by Cessna, so they may have an easier time with the FAA over how to do certain things. Very important to the service centers as they must be FAA repair stations. Also important to the CPCs as they are supposed to be Part 41 schools.

HTH
Alan Bradley