New Ford Inventory At Higher Than Average Levels

January 23, 2024 9:51 am

After a period of years when new vehicle inventory in general was virtually non-existent by historical standards, things have improved considerably over the past several months. New Ford inventory levels stood at a 75 days’ supply back in June 2023, and by November, had grown to a 105 days’ supply, which was among the highest of any automotive brand in the U.S. According to new data from Cox Automotive, those numbers have only grown since then for the most part, as new Lincoln inventory swelled to more than double the national average in 2023, while the Ford F-150 Lightning and Ford Mustang Mach-E are also accumulating on dealer lots at a rapid rate – though the same can’t necessarily be said of the Ford brand as a whole, too.

At the conclusion of 2023, Ford had a 94 days’ supply of inventory across the U.S., which is a bit lower than the month prior, but still far higher than the national average of 70 days’. On the bright side, that figure was also far from the worst in the industry, as Lincoln, Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge all had inventory levels that were at least twice that same figure, followed by Mitsubishi, Buick, Nissan, Infiniti, and Ram, all of which had more vehicles sitting on dealer lots at the end of December than Ford.

On the same token, the average new vehicle supply in the U.S. reached 2.56 million units last month, which is 57 percent or 925,000 units higher than the same time period one year ago. These Cox Automotive days’ supply figures are based on the daily sales rate for the most recent 30-day period that ended early this month, when sales totaled nearly 1.01 million units. Sales for the full month of November were up seven percent from a year ago and up almost two percent from October.

As Cox Automotive points out, this glut of inventory is prompting some automakers to scale back production, particularly in terms of all-electric vehicles, which ended November with a 114 days’ supply, overall.

We’ll have more on the state of new vehicle inventory soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for comprehensive Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.