New vehicle inventory for Buick ran at 120 days supply in February 2023, giving dealers ample vehicles to meet consumer demand. Buick continues to be the GM brand with the highest inventory level relative to sales, a situation that has been ongoing for months.
The new vehicle supply for Buick is approximately double the 60 days supply considered optimal by the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) and other auto retail organizations.
Via Cox Automotive
Tri-Shield inventory has declined somewhat from even higher levels reported in recent months, however. Buick had 125 days supply during January 2023 and was running at over 140 days supply in December.
As Cox Automotive noted in its new-vehicle inventory analysis, published on March 16th, Buick is one of seven automotive brands with more than 100 days supply for February 2023. It was in third place for the month behind Stellantis brands Chrysler – at 133 days supply – and Jeep – with slightly more than 120 days inventory.
Automakers had an average 56 days supply for the month with about 1.8 million total vehicles in inventory. Larger and more expensive vehicles showed signs of accumulating an inventory backlog, while smaller, cheaper vehicles moved quickly off dealer lots and registered far below the average on a days supply basis.
The average is down slightly from January 2023, but has risen sharply year-over-year from February 2023. At that time, the average new vehicle days supply for the U.S. market was 35, 21 days less than now.
With inventory building up and pricier vehicles showing sluggish sales, dealer incentives have reached their highest level over the past 12 months. The average current incentive is 3 percent, an offering not seen since March 2022. However, as Cox notes, this is only a fraction of the 10 percent average incentive typical before COVID-19 disruptions.
Analysts “expect to see incentives rise some, particularly on segments and brands with the heaviest inventories” according to senior economist Charlie Chesbrough. On the flipside, Chesbrough remarked that sales are surprisingly strong considering “continued inflation, especially in the form of high vehicle prices and continually rising interest rates” and other economic factors.
Inventories overall are much smaller than the huge backlogs waiting on dealership lots before 2020’s pandemic. Auto inventory was at 115 days in the final week of February 2019, with 3.78 million vehicles at dealerships, more than double the number of new cars, trucks, and SUVs currently in inventory for the entire U.S. automotive sector.
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Comments
Not a reason to cut the brand, but, rather, a reason to bear down and adjust things. I was happy to read that Buick has improved, going from a 140-day supply in December, to 125 days in January, then to 120 in February. Hopefully, they can keep improving. Also, the new 2024 Encore GX will be out in May, followed by the Buick Envista.
Buicks have very good reliability and build quality, too. See the most recent J.D. Power and Consumer Reports surveys.
The reliability above Chevrolet that Buick does have can only be explained by a client base that takes better care of their vehicles (older people) as they’re mechanically the same as some other Chevy.
I do like the discontinued Regal GS. Wish it had more power but that was their last hope.
Very poor regard for the brand inside of GM. They keep building product that no one would want. For example, they build Buick Envision Avenir models that have no rear cross traffic alert, no side blind spot monitoring, no functioning head-up display and still want to charge $48,500. I wouldn’t buy a car without these features period! I guess they figured they had to keep the Chinese working regardless of whether they have the chips or not. Fill the dealer lots with these white elephants and then moan they can’t sell them.
Is it possible Buick’s announcement of going all electric is a real downer for *real* Buick Enclave lovers?
Not surprised, many Buick buyers want sedans. But Queen Mary says no, thou shalt all drive SUV’s!
A large dealer in Mississauga Canada tell me they can not get Buicks please send them to Canada
Keeping Buick was a proper decision. China – like it or not – is now the biggest car market in the world. Buick was known there WAY before the Revolution, was, and is, a revered brand there.
As for Pontiac and Olds, at most it was the world’s motorheads who even knew the brand name at all. As for the US market, Olds, Pontiac, and Buick lost any market or target differentiation decades ago. I’m old enough to remember when automatic transmissions meant 2-speed PowerGlides in Chevies, stepless Dynaflows in Buicks, and 4-speed Hydramatics in Pontiacs. Engines were different. Suspensions were different. That all went away.
GM made the right decision.
It’s all self induced with these manufacturers. When you try to milk more money out of the consumer by discontinuing more inexpensive models, you get a back log of vehicles people don’t want and/or can’t afford.
And keep building vehicles regardless of whether you have the chips to include basic things like side blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, or head up display. There are a lot of Envision Avenir models on the lot stickering for $48,500 without these features. I wouldn’t buy a $30,000 vehicle without these features today!
Too bad but buicks best seller, an awesome car is the envision but only made in china is the problem!Buick is going like Saturn , the only real buick is the Enclave but its expensive and low volume.Buick was only kept in 2009 due to sales in china, maybe pontiac should have stayed in the US
1. Buick has ranked higher than Toyota in nearly every scientific quality survey for years.
2. When you compare actual resale, Toyota has no advantage over gm vehicles. Look at the fine print on “resale” reports. It compares resale from MSRP, not purchase price. Toyota markets close to MSRP while gm’s marketing has always been to get a “deal” from the dealer as well as a big rebate on top (until covid). For instance if you buy a $60K Tundra for $58K and sell it in 3 years for $40K you lost $20K (remember resale from MSRP – real loss $18K). While at Chevy the $60K Silverado dealer will (normally in the past) deal down to $55K plus a $8K rebate (Price $47K). Three years later sale at $38K. The resale loss will show at $22K while it is actually $9K. The resale reporting is a joke until they go from purchase price. Watch gm’s resale value soar when the last two years start showing up – you know, when they sold at or above MSRP.
Build an American Buick sedan.. like the full size Lucerne.
Where it is built has zero impact on its sales smart guy, no one buying pretty much any vehicle has any clue where it is built at. So take your star spangled awesome self somewhere else with that false information.
Keep talking surveys and clinics and all the other B.S. The simple fact with Buick is that there is no choice. Do you want a small blob, a medium blob, or a big blob that isn’t really big? No style, no choice and no distinctiveness. Will someone at the RenCen or Tech Center please wake up and put a sedan back in the line up? Buick has a very proud history. Build on that, don’t wipe it out!!
OK, for most of 2022 Buick dealers had limited supply of Envisions. China had a zero covid policy and this reduced the availability of this vehicle. My local Buick dealer in 2022, when he would get a few Envisions; his inventory was sold very quickly. Now that the zero covid policy is no longer in effect and it also seems that shipping has normalized, this same Buick dealer has received a lot of Buick Envisions in 1st quarter of 2023 and this included roughly about a dozen Avenir’s. And looking at his Envision inventory last night, it seems that these Envisions received in the first quarter are still all there on his lot. Now, I think that some of this is due to the Fed Reserve and the overall effects of raising interest rates on both the housing markets and on a $48000 Buick Envision Avenir with AWD. But it seems that the 3.9% ‘financing deal’ that GM dealers have to help move these vehicles isn’t enough.
Nobody should be buying the Chinese-made Envision, it’s bad enough its imported from China and its priced too high. In fact, it should not be sold in the America at all.
Thank you, Mary Barra, for making this brand irrelevant.
Don’t forget about the mandatory extra cost of the Onstar contract built into the Sticker on the Buicks. Also, why would you buy a Buick now with a reduced Bumper to Bumper Warranty? My 2019 Buick Encore has a 4 yr, 50000 mile Bumper to Bumper warranty. The 2020 and up were reduced to 3 yr 36000 like the Chevys.
I drive a 2019 Envision Esssence. I really do like the vehicle. It listed for some over $39,000 and I paid $31,000. The same vehicle today is around $43,000. The manufacturers and dealers wanting sticker price is killing sales.