Inventory Levels Soar As 2 Million Cars Sit Unsold At Dealer Lots, Including Many EVs

Data from Cox Automotive and the Automotive News Research & Data Center has revealed that there are almost 2 million unsold vehicles sitting at car dealerships across the United States. Unsold EVs are a big contributor to rising inventory levels.

At the end of June, it is estimated that exactly 1,953,512 vehicles were sitting unsold at dealerships. By using the sales rate from the preceding 30-day period, Cox Automotive says this equates to a 53-day supply. That is a 75% increase from the same period a year ago and also represents an increase from the 1,928,619 new vehicles that were sitting on dealership lots at the end of May.

Auto News understands that there is currently a 103-day supply of unsold EVs in the United States. While it did not specify how many units are sitting on dealership lots, it says there is a higher supply of unsold EVs than any other automotive segment, except those in the ultra-luxury and high-end luxury segments with supplies also reaching over 100 days.

It is worth taking these figures with a grain of salt, however. Earlier this month, Cox Automotive said General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, and Toyota each had more than 90 days’ worth of unsold EVs at their stores and that there were more than 92,000 new EVs on dealership lots across the country. The outlet then asserted that there were 86 days’ worth of Ford F-150 Lightnings and 113 days’ worth of Mustang Mach-Es but Ford quickly hit back at these figures, stating F-150 Lightning inventories sit at 58 days while Mustang Mach-E inventories sit at 83 days’ supply.

Read: EV Inventory At American Dealers Surpasses ICE Vehicle Inventory

Cox Automotive’s data adds that compact and midsize cars and crossovers have the tightest inventories and that inventories increase as vehicle prices increase. It also noted that Toyota and Honda had nine of the 10 nameplates with the smallest days’ supply as of the end of June.