New vehicle inventory has remained – in some cases – at alarmingly high levels for quite a while now, though some automotive brands are faring much better than others. Unfortunately for The Blue Oval, that hasn’t included Ford or Lincoln, which have posted some of the highest inventory levels in the industry for months now. That didn’t change in the month of January 2025 to kick off the new year, either, as Ford inventory levels expanded to their highest level in some time.
In December 2024, Ford ranked eighth in terms of having the highest days’ supply of inventory among any automotive brand in the U.S. at 113 days – though that was an improvement from November’s 125 days. However, according to new data from Cox Automotive, Ford experienced a big setback in January, as its inventory levels grew to 138 days’ (a figure that includes in-transit vehicles) – behind only Jaguar and Lincoln, which had inventory levels that were at least double the industry average of 96, as well as Mini at 186 days.
It is worth noting that the industry average increased substantially as well – from 75 days to 96 month-over-month – which Cox Automotive blames on the typical January sales slowdown (posting a 25 percent month-over-month decrease this year), as well as weather disruptions across the U.S. Ford and Chevy were the only two brands carrying more than 10 percent of new-vehicle inventory at 17 and 11 percent, respectively, but Ford is also being weighed down by 2024 model year vehicles in its current inventory, which account for 63 percent of that total.
Another contributing factor to Ford’s swelling inventory levels can be traced back to a common phenomenon pertaining to full-size pickups in today’s market. The Ford F-150 remained the top seller in January 2025, but carried a rather high 141 days’ supply and an average list price of $61,303. However, as Cox Automotive points out, full-size pickups typically run above the industry average days’ supply due to the multiple configurations that manufacturers offer.
Comments
Ford has obviously been on this trajectory for the better half of the year, and I recall commenting on it previously. Ford clearly needed to discount its vehicles earlier to avoid the glut of 2024 models they now have on the lots. For whatever reason (tariffs?), Ford did not discount their vehicles. Now Ford has mountains of unsold vehicles. 138 days for Ford and somewhere north of 192 days for Lincoln! Those numbers are terrible.
Soon you will be head of Ford, with comments like this they will certainly choose you! The future will be much brighter then. Thanks! 🙂 – Joe Biden
National average is 96 days of inventory. Ford is 138 days, Lincoln 192 or more days. Ford’s multiple recalls due to quality control issues under Failure Farley have started to hurt sales. Ford is very lucky to still have customers buy their unreliable vehicles.