The absolute number of new vehicles in dealership inventory is actually rising, but days supply – both for the auto market overall and for GM’s Chevy brand – fell in March 2024 as spring sales gain momentum, the latest data shows.
Per the most recent report by Cox Automotive, the auto market as a whole had a 79 days supply on dealer lots at the start of March and a 72 days supply at the start of April, with Chevy dealerships seeing their stock depleted by sales faster than average at 69 days supply for March.
The days supply of new Chevy vehicles actually increased slightly from February, when a typical dealer’s inventory would last for 68 days at the rate of purchases taking place at the time. However, it is down significantly from the peak of 81 days supply in January of this year, ending a temporary trend of increasing inventory carrying over from late 2023.
As a reminder, a 60 days supply is usually considered optimal in the auto industry, providing enough of a buffer to maintain a steady flow of sales while not leading to an excessive backlog of unsold inventory accumulating at dealerships.
Turning to the other core GM vehicle brands, Cadillac had a lower days supply than Chevy at 63 days for March. Both GMC and Buick had a higher days supply at 76 days each. During the same period, prices for the Bow Tie brand’s vehicles fell slightly year-over-year but gained from February.
Cox notes that sales volumes are keeping the days supply lower despite the large amounts of new vehicles finding their way into inventory. The end-of-March total available U.S. new vehicle inventory of 2.77 million units is 46 percent higher year-over-year, but grew only slightly from the 2.74 million vehicles in inventory at the end of February.
Meanwhile, sales rose 11 percent year over year, which the analytical firm notes as a factor that is “putting 2024 on track to be the best new-vehicle sales year since 2019.”
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevy news, GM inventory news, GM business news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Was looking for a nicely optioned midsize crossover with 35mpg. GM excluded themselves from the list.
Ok, and that has what to do with inventory? Care to make an actual contribution to this discussion or do you just want to troll?
Inventory rises when you don’t have what people want. WOW!? Do you know how fast (or the wait lists) for Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia HEV and PHEV???
TMI is an ironic name to give yourself.
But that article said inventory decreased.
“The days supply of new Chevy vehicles actually increased slightly from February”
“a 60 days supply is usually considered optimal in the auto industry”
“Both GMC and Buick had a higher days supply at 76 days each”