Automakers traded market share for profit last year as sales volumes plumbed depths not seen in more than a decade and new-vehicle prices set a record in December, according to an Automotive News report.
But the new year could flip that script as inventories climb and inflation bites.
Annual U.S. light-vehicle sales ended at 13.865 million, down 8 percent from 2021, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. That’s a significant decline from the 17.104 million sales in 2019 before COVID hit and microchip shortages jammed assembly lines.
But assembly lines are now ramping back up and dealer lots are beginning to fill. Inventories topped 1.8 million new vehicles in December for the first time since May, according to data compiled by Cox Automotive and the Automotive News Research & Data Center.
Cox put its latest industrywide inventory estimate at 1,803,717 vehicles, representing a 58-day supply based on the selling rate from the most recent 30-day period. Traditionally, a 60-day supply across the industry was considered normal and ideal.
Production is the lever to getting the industry back on track with sales, said Tyson Jominy, J.D. Power’s vice president of data and analytics. “We’ll be there shortly,” he told Automotive News.
Read the full Automotive News report.
Source: https://rvbusiness.com/inventory-crisis-dragged-auto-sales-to-a-decade-low-in-22/
