Inventory mostly flat in Jan. at 1.04 million

U.S. inventory levels stayed largely flat last month as automakers contended with slowing sales and lingering production issues, according to data compiled by Cox Automotive and the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

Dealers began the month with an estimated 1.04 million vehicles in inventory, the same 35-day supply they had at the beginning of January, Cox estimated.

That is still down sharply from the 2.79 million vehicles on hand at the same point a year earlier, and far fewer than the 3.35 million vehicles in inventory at the same point in 2020, prior to the pandemic.

"Supply is creeping up slowly with small steps, but some of that is because sales are weak, both on the new and used side," Cox executive analyst Michelle Krebs said. "We think it will improve in the second half, and so do many automakers. But it's going to be bumpy."

Cox said inventory levels in the full-size pickup segment are building. But inventory levels among minivans are very tight, Cox added.

Among automakers that continue to report sales and inventory levels on a monthly basis, Ford was the only one to report more than a month's supply of vehicles in inventory, though its days' supply figure fell slightly from December, as did the days' supply level at Hyundai-Kia.

Meanwhile, days' supply improved from December at both American Honda and Mazda, while staying flat at Toyota, Subaru and Volvo.