Cadillac Dealer Inventory Rises In February 2025

Dealer inventory of new Cadillac vehicles surged for a second month in a row after dropping to a 77 days supply as red-hot luxury vehicle sales took place in December 2024, with a 98 days supply in January 2025 climbing to a 106 days supply in February.

As shown by Cox Automotive data, this increase put Cadillac inventory markedly above the U.S. auto industry average of an 89 days supply for the year’s second month.

Accelerating sales driven by several factors caused market-wide inventory to shrink in terms of days supply, even as the absolute number of vehicles on lots grew 12.8 percent year-over-year to 2.99 million units. The rising supply helped to bolster sales since, as Cox executive analyst Erin Cox described, the larger number of units ensured “consumers had plenty of options when choosing a new vehicle.”

Sales increased 5.9 percent year-over-year and 13.6 percent compared to the start of January. The most important factors appear to be annual bonuses being paid in February as well as sharply increased tax refunds, with total refunds so far up 10 percent relative to 2024 to $102.25 billion.

A secondary factor might be fears of sharply rising automotive prices in the near future because of the tariffs threatened against Canada and Mexico by U.S. President Donald Trump. While blanket tariffs may not materialize in the form originally feared, with the extreme versions possibly no more than Trump’s reliance on bravado and chaos to attempt to strengthen his negotiating position, car buyers had no way of knowing that and may have sought to “get in ahead” of expected car price surges.

However, the overall February sales increase of autos in the U.S. does not seem to affect Cadillac enough to prevent a mounting backlog of unsold vehicles. This is also predicted by trends. Cheap vehicles saw the number of unsold units plunge by 17 percent since January, while a 10-percent increase in high-end vehicles costing above $80,000 occurred in the same short time frame. Cadillac also naturally lacks a full-size pickup truck model, one of the best-selling body styles.

Vehicles over $100,000, such as certain Cadillac Escalade SUV variants, are seeing the most sluggish sales of all. These vehicles now account for 41 percent of all high-end inventory and with 50 percent more – 75,000 units versus 50,000 units – unsold on dealer lots compared to February 2024.