New-vehicle inventories continued their slow climb last month, even in the face of the fastest sales pace in more than a year, in a further sign that production constraints are easing, according to data compiled by Cox Automotive and the Automotive News Research & Data Center.
Cox's most recent estimate of the U.S. inventory is 1,904,958 vehicles, a 53-day supply. That's up from 1,893,855 vehicles, or a 56-day supply, in the previous month, and about 71 percent higher than it was a year earlier. However, it is very close to where the industry was at the same point in 2021 as inventory levels began to rapidly recede and industrywide days' supply fell below 40. Cox computes days' supply based on the selling rate of the previous 30-day period.
As they have been for several months, midsize, compact, subcompact and high-performance cars were the only segments with less than a 40-day supply of inventory, Cox said, while full-size pickups, electric vehicles, full-size cars, hybrid/alternative fuel vehicles and "uber-luxury" vehicles all had more than 80-day supplies.
Of the automakers that report monthly sales and inventory, only Volvo saw its days' supply increase last month.
Subaru and Hyundai-Kia stayed flat. The other four automakers saw their days' supply fall. Ford Motor Co. shaved off 10 days to drop below the two-month level.
