The inventory of new Cadillac vehicles at dealerships is dipping lower as the release of pent-up demand counterbalances the recent production surge, with inventory running under 50 days supply for June 2023.
This inventory level reported for June by Cox Automotive is well below the 60 days supply the auto industry considers optimal. It’s also a drop from the start of the year, when Cadillac had 60 days supply in January and just under 60 days in February per Cox data.
Cadillac had somewhat less inventory than the average across the whole automotive sector, which was 53 days supply overall. Days supply refers to how many days of selling dealerships could maintain at current rates before exhausting present inventory, assuming they were not resupplied by the manufacturers.
Electric vehicles have been slow to leave dealer lots in the auto sector as a whole and have built up a backlog as a result. EVs in general had 100 days supply for June, with the Ford Mustang Mach-E standing at 116 days supply, one of the largest accumulations of unsold inventory anywhere in today’s automotive market.
GM EVs fared much better for the most part. Inventory of the Cadillac Lyriq registered at 50 days supply for last month, showing strong, but not overwhelming demand relative to production. GM also told Cox Automotive that many new EVs from all of its brands that are currently in transit have already been sold.
Cox reported affordable vehicles continue to have below-average inventory levels, while inventory of most luxury brands (the sector where Cadillac operates) is increasing. Vehicles priced at $80,000 and up have 60 days supply on average, the theoretical optimum.
New vehicle sales are skyrocketing in summer as “pent-up demand from individuals and businesses that could not find their product or a price they were willing to pay last year was unleashed,” according to Cox senior economist Charlie Chesbrough. Year-over-year sales rose 20 percent for June, while listing prices increased only 3 percent.
While slow growth in prices shows supply and demand in relative balance, incentives offered by auto brands continue to grow. In many cases the incentives being offered have not been equaled since 2021. Overall, incentives amounted to 4.2 percent of the new vehicle average transaction price (ATP).
Luxury vehicles like those produced by Cadillac had the highest incentive levels of all at 7.4 percent of ATP. Luxury vehicle sales amounted to 18.8 percent market share in the U.S., increasing from 18.4 percent in May 2023. EVs had the next highest incentives at 7.1 percent of new vehicle ATP.
Inventory reached the same level as April 2021 with 1.95 million new vehicles in stock at the end of June. The amount of vehicles in inventory soared 75 percent year over year, increasing by 835,000 units from June 2022 inventory.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM-related sales news, Cadillac news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comment
Cadillac Lyriq dealer supply is 50 days? Where are they?