New-vehicle supply is approaching prepandemic levels, based on where inventory stood as October got under way.
Cox Automotive data puts supply at about 2.8 million units, or 81 days’ supply, up two days month-over-month and one day over where it was in October 2019, the season before the Covid outbreak in the West.
Total supply is up 25% year-over-year though down 20% from 2019, said Cox, which pointed out that most dealers’ stock is nearly 40% 2025 models and that incentives abound to help sell last year’s.
It said incentive spending is up 52% year-over-year to 7.3% of the average transaction price, though the ATP was flat month-over-month at $48,397. Incentive spending is still well off 2019 levels, which surpassed 10% of the ATP.
Despite plentiful supply, the average listing price is up 2% month-over-month and about 1% year-over-year to $47,823 due to the newly minted models on dealer lots, Cox said.