Inventory rises to 3-year high

New-vehicle inventory in the U.S. rose by more than 200,000 in December and started January half again as large as where it stood a year earlier, the highest in three years, according to Cox Automotive.

Cox said vehicle inventory stood at more than 2.7 million in its latest estimate, representing a 71-day supply, and up from an estimated 2.5 million a month earlier. Cox said new-vehicle inventories had recovered a year earlier to about 1.8 million as the industry slowly regained production from 2021's component shortages.

Notably, according to Cox, the inventory of electric vehicles rose more quickly than internal combustion vehicle inventory. After tracking each other closely throughout 2022, they diverged sharply in 2023, with EV inventories ending the year at 113 days' supply while combustion-powered vehicle inventories stood at 69 days' supply, Cox said.

Among the seven automakers reporting monthly sales and inventory, six saw their days' supply figures fall from a month earlier, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center, with Subaru the only reporting company to record an inventory increase over the previous month. Among the seven, Ford was the only automaker to report more than two months of supply on hand, while American Honda and Volvo had more than a one-month supply.