Inventory of new GMC vehicles ran at an average of 70 days supply during March 2023, registering a slight increase from February when it was running at just under 70 days supply.
GMC’s inventory levels remain significantly higher than the 56 days supply for the U.S. auto industry as a whole, according to the latest inventory report from Cox Automotive. Big Red’s new vehicle inventory is also above the 60 days supply usually considered optimal by vehicle sales organizations such as the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA).
Via Cox Automotive
The elevated inventory of new GMC vehicles at dealerships may be related to a growing backlog of unsold GM pickup trucks earlier in Q1 2023. Among the models not selling quickly enough to draw down supply was the GMC Sierra pickup, According to recent information, the GMC Sierra was running at approximately 80 days supply in late March.
GM halted production of the GMC Sierra and the Chevy Silverado at the Fort Wayne Assembly plant located in Indiana starting on March 27th, 2023. The production pause was scheduled to last two weeks and help bring truck inventory down closer to the 60-day optimum. The Chevy Silverado was running at 80 to 90 days supply in March, although Chevy was under 60 days supply overall.
The backlog of GMC Sierra trucks echoes wider trends in the automotive market, with Ram 1500 trucks currently running at 100 days supply. Cox Automotive notes 86 days supply for full-size pickup truck nameplates on average for March 2023, while the overall auto sector had 56 days supply during the month.
The inventory report shows that both new vehicle supply and sales are strengthening across the automotive sector. Subcompact and compact vehicles with affordable price tags had the lowest days supply for March, with several of the most popular having less than 30 days supply at dealerships.
Cox Automotive senior analyst Charlie Chesbrough said that increased supply is helping to drive sales as more vehicles are available for customers to purchase. He stated that “higher sales have been boosted, in part, by improving inventory, which has been running at around 1.8 million or so for the past several weeks.”
Chesbrough also noted that 30-day new vehicle sales exceeded 1 million units “for the first time since early September 2021.” While down from pre-pandemic levels, inventory has rebounded by 70 percent year over year, up by 780,000 vehicles from March 2022. March 2023 ended with 1.89 million new cars in dealer inventories.
Incentives remain low by historical standards, but finally climbed to an average 3.2 percent, higher than the almost nonexistent incentives of previous months. At the same time, dealer prices fell to parity with MSRP in March 2023, ending a 20-month streak during which sticker prices were up to several thousand dollars higher on average than suggested retail price.
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Comments
Discount will be coming big time this fall just based upon supply and demand. Add in the recession we are entering, and it looks like late 2023 could be be a good time to buy.
I would agree. Drove by the largest Chevy dealer in my area after picking up my Chevy from a different dealer (I will not set foot on the larger dealer’s lot; they can …) and their giant electronic billboard was advertising Silverados at $8000 below MSRP, which is all them, not GM.
The larger dealer’s lot is overflowing with overpriced, used-to-be ADM’d trucks, that still aren’t selling at MSRP. Their pricing gouging has backfired. Foot traffic has moved to the other two smaller dealers in the area that weren’t doing ADM’s. The larger dealer’s floor plan costs must be killing them at this point.
I wouldn’t put much trust in that “Days of Supply” data. I drive by a few new car dealers a couple of times a week, and inventory is sparse. The local Ford dealer has very few cars on the lot, the Mazda dealer, which in the “before times” would have up to 100 cars now averages maybe 7 new cars on the lot, mostly CX5s. The local Dodge/Jeep/Ram dealer has literally 30 Wranglers, but otherwise only 2 or 3 of any other Jeep model, and no Grand Wagoneers. The GMC/Buick dealer has a handful of Encores and Envisions, a couple of Enclaves, 10 or so Sierras, and a few Terrains and Acadias. The Honda, Subaru, Toyota, and Lexus dealers are literally selling new cars as they come off the truck. Discounts are still slim. The only local dealer with any real inventory is the Acura dealer.
My friend’s 9yo car gave up last week and needed $4K in repairs. They decided to buy a new version of the same make and model (Ford Edge). It was a 2022 left over. $46K MSRP, and the only discount they received was an $800 “loyalty” discount. They were able to get 0% financing for 48 months, however despite being a 2022 model the dealer wouldn’t budge on price outside of that meager “loyalty” discount. In the “before times” there would have easily been a $4K-$5K incentive on that 2022. Dealers still don’t have enough inventory, everything is still “in transit” for the most part, and discounts are just not happening.
I’m also in the market for something new to replace my now 8 year old Chevrolet. Everything I have looked at has been MSRP or even MSRP+ (Jeep, Nissan, VW, Chevy, Buick, GMC, even Mitsubishi.) If days of supply are growing, it certainly isn’t happening yet here in the Northeastern part of the country.
Agree, not sure where all of this inventory is but it’s not here (Midwest). Just 4 cylinders that no one wants.
Four cylinders are selling well, the incentives are for people like you that have an ego and wouldn’t give it a time of day. So a discount might make them at least drive it and when they do, they will notice how in 90% of the cases it is superior to the 5.3 and drive better and more in line with their needs than the 6.2 while getting better mpg. So not sure where this no one wants thing is, last I heard it was between 15-20% of production and they are selling everything they make.
It’s a fact that most of the inventory on lots around here are 4 cylinders, why is that? Because they are not selling. The current incentives are further proof that they are not selling well.
I just built a deck for a customer that works for gm and got the 4 cylinder because that’s all they had. He hates it. Window sticker says 1 mpg better than the v8 but it certainly doesn’t have the acceleration the 8 does. He also said it doesn’t get anywhere near the fuel ratings on the window sticker. He has a camper and when he tows the camper he said you can feel the engine struggling. The V8 he turned in didn’t have that issue.
So bizarre!!! Canadian GM Lots are absolutely empty, most hVe like 20 to 30 total vehicles. No suvs, no truck selection at all. From BC TO ALBERTA all bare so whyyyy???
GM only allows so many vehicles into Canuckastan, majority of those go to Ontario. That why a Yukon Denali is selling for well over MSRP because you can’t find one.
Must be P/U, SUV and CUV fatigue.
I don’t see how these trucks are selling right now with the inflated prices and interest rates? Oh, unless you want to lease for $800/month or buy it for $1000+/month……….not this guy!!! Crazy times.
Here in Phoenix, there is a lot of advertising for clearance on trucks. First of all, he ones that are advertising are all 4 banners and low-end models that no one wants and lower trim levels. So, the big inventory number is self-created by building lower grade models that people are not wanting to buy. You did this to yourself GM. I ordered a 1500 ultimate on Nov. 2nd, 2022, still no truck. Dealer is clueless and really doesn’t give a Shot. So, inventory to high, and no trucks customers want to buy. Great job Sally, keep collecting your 2.8 million, the monkeys are running the Zoo.
One would assume those 4 cyl pickups that no one wants are there because of gubmt mandates on mileage and lib Mary’s “all in” approach to saving the planet at tax payers expense. The jacked up prices on ICE vehicles are there to help finance the EV’s that we are being forced to drive. It’s hard to imagine the ICE vehicle prices ever coming down unless we end up with a real depression. Just my thoughts.
The 4 cylinder gets just 1 mpg better than the V8 so that’s not the issue. Gm just doesn’t understand the customers. They quit making all but the crew cab short bed canyon and Colorado because that’s what most of the sales were…….but then they dropped the V6 which was majority of it’s sales for the same 4 cylinder in the Silverado and Sierra.
If this 4 cylinder was to replace the 6 fine, but trying to pawn it off as a competitor to the V8 shows they just don’t get the customer.