New-vehicle inventory falls slightly to 2.55 million in January

New-vehicle inventory in the U.S. retreated slightly in January but remained well ahead of where it was a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive.

Cox said vehicle inventory stood at 2.55 million in its latest estimate, a 75-day supply, down slightly from 2.7 million the previous month but still 819,000 vehicles — or 47 percent — higher than a year earlier.

Cox noted inventory level differences in various regions of the country, where weather may be a contributing factor. For example, three cold-weather metro regions — Detroit, Chicago and Denver — had about one-third more days' supply on hand than did warmer metro regions such as Orlando-Daytona Beach, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles.

The seven automakers continuing to report monthly sales and inventory all had days' supply figures increase dramatically from the previous month, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

Toyota and Subaru each added 10 days to their inventory measurements in January, with Subaru exceeding the one month's supply threshold for the first time in nearly three years, according to the Research & Data Center. Other reporting automakers added at least 12 days — and in the case of Volvo, 27 days — from the previous month's measurement. Ford continued to have the highest days' supply among reporting automakers, at 79.