New Lincoln inventory levels have remained among the highest of any automotive brand for quite a few months to this point, which may be a good thing for consumers, but not so much for the luxurious entity or its dealers. For some time, new Lincoln inventory days’ supply was double the national average, in fact, but that trend finally came to an end this past February. Regardless, things haven’t improved much in the months since, and that was also true in May as well.
According to new data from Cox Automotive, new Lincoln inventory levels stood at a 145 days’ supply at the end of May, which is actually one day higher than April. It also means that Lincoln ranked behind only Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Ram, and Fiat – all of which had inventory levels that were at least double the national average – as well as Jeep, which closed out May with a 147 days’ supply of inventory. Ford didn’t fare much better with a 101 days’ supply, either.
As for the overall market, new vehicle inventory actually dropped by four days month-over-month to 74, however, resulting in 2.89 million units sitting on dealer lots – two percent fewer than May 2023.
Much of this decline was spurred by a boost in sales, which is typically the case thanks to deals run over Memorial Day weekend – one of the stronger selling periods for automobiles in the calendar year. According to Cox Automotive, sales rose by around nine percent last month versus a year ago, while the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales was 15.9 million – the fastest pace of 2024 so far and enough to keep the industry on track for its best new-vehicle sales year since 2019.
We’ll have more on the state of new Lincoln inventory soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Lincoln news, and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
No surprise. With an incomplete vehicle lineup composed of only boring cookie cutter SUV’s and no sedan or sports coupe or EV, Lincoln is way behind the brands against it intends to compete.
2024 Lincoln Nautilus made in China, the brilliant Dianne Craig raising prices and eliminating 2wd, endless recalls, Alfa Romeo reliability, a very boring Milk Truck line up, they’re lucky they don’t have a 200-day inventory. Keep up the good work Dianne Craig.
Lincoln only sells 85,000 vehicles annually. With such a low volume is there any point investing in the division? It seems to me they need a more diverse and dynamic range of vehicles. All their SUVs pretty much overlap each other and look too similar. It is hard to imagine anyone really wanting such dull vehicles.
Maybe the older generation is looking at Lincoln and are not happy with all the knobs and switches gone from the vehicles and moving on? There is no way Ford people haven’t had to help an older family member or friend with tech but what do I know. As long as they save a couple of bucks per unit that’s all that seems to matter.
The problem is that there is nothing in the lineup to aspire to with Lincoln. No halo vehicle. There’s no reason why the mustang S650 platform can’t be used for a proper Lincoln LS sports sedan, a longer wider Continental similar to a Rolls Royce Ghost, a true Mark9 coupe with LSC performance and a larger formal sedan similar to the RR Phantom. This would get my attention as something to aspire to.