Inventories continue slow climb, hit 1.47M

Rising interest rates appear to be impacting U.S. dealer lots as inventory levels continue to slowly recover from their historic lows.

The supply of vehicles rose by 150,000 last month to 1.47 million, according to data from Cox Automotive and the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

The figure is up 67 percent from the previous year, though still less than half of where the industry stood at this point in 2019. It represents a 47-day supply, according to Cox, which uses the selling rate from the previous 30-day period to calculate days' supply. Since June, the total number of vehicles has increased by almost 400,000.

Cox analyst Michelle Krebs said inventory growth is not uniform, however, with stronger selections available in higher-priced segments, especially full-size pickups.

"This year, high gas prices have caused some truck buyers to downsize to smaller trucks," Krebs said. "Full-size pickup truck sales correlate exactly with housing starts, which are down."

Five of the seven automakers continuing to report monthly sales and inventory levels saw their days' supply figures increase slightly from the previous month. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor North America was flat, and Volvo recorded a sharp decline from the previous month, the Automotive News Research & Data Center said.

Among the reporting automakers, Ford Motor Co. continued to have the largest days' supply, while Subaru of America was the only automaker still with single-digit days' supply.