During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and for some time after, new vehicle inventory was routinely hovering around record low levels due to production shutdowns and supply chain constraints. However, that changed in a big way mere months ago, as new vehicle inventory has since roared right back to – and in many cases above – typical levels. This is certainly true of new Ford inventory, which has long been among the highest in the industry – a fact that didn’t change in August 2024.
According to new data from Cox Automotive, new Ford inventory closed out August at a 105 days’ supply, which was once again one of the very highest in the industry, as well as far above the average of 77 days’. This is certainly not surprising, as new Ford inventory in May finished at a 101 days’ supply, though in July, it actually declined to a mere 85 days’ supply. Regardless, the automaker has expressed concerns about its high inventory levels for some time now.
As for the overall market, its average new vehicle days’ supply of 77 is below the average recorded in the first half of the year, at 83 days, but well above days’ supply recorded a year ago, which was below 60. The total U.S. supply of available unsold new vehicles opened September at 2.84 million units, a mere 6,073 units more than the beginning of June. This increase in inventory comes despite the fact that sales increased 14 percent over last year, too.
The average list price for a new vehicle at the end of August was $46,841, down around one percent from a month earlier and 0.7 percent compared to last year. The average transaction price of a new vehicle in the U.S. in August was $47,870, which is 0.6 percent lower than July, while the average incentive came in at 7.2 percent of ATP (or $3,383) last month, which is seven percent higher than July and an increase from August 2023’s 4.8 percent of ATP.
Comments
The market is definitely softening. Despite Ford’s numbers, I’m more surprised we haven’t seen fire sale prices at Dodge/RAM. If inventory is that bad now, what will January look like?
the market is not softening at all…it’s actually really HOT, Americans are getting pickier…
If you have lots of hybrids and phevs available in your line up, from small sedan all the way up to SUVs, you are having NO TROUBLE selling at all…
Look at Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia…etc….they are having no trouble selling everything they produce…
Actually the market is soft and getting softer. Industry forecast for September was revised down 100,000 units to 1mm from 1.1mm just a few days ago…
…. ok, you get your info from TicToc. But David and Jack are right about softening.
Here’s a hint: “pickier” means finding vehicles with less bling and less dollars…
Are you new?
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Time to bring back 10k off Truck Month!