New vehicle inventory continues to grow

S&P Global Mobility analysis of current US retail advertised inventory data finds that inventory is still on the rise, with electric vehicle (EV) inventory continuing to grow faster than the overall industry. The average vehicle inventory age has increased nearly 35% from a year ago.

Here are four key takeaways from our team's latest analysis.

1. Available retail advertised inventory at the end of May continued to grow, reaching 2.79 million vehicles, up 0.4% compared to April and 61% over last May.
   
   
   
   

   This is the 12th consecutive month of increases (22 of the last 23 months have grown vs. the prior month), but the rate of increase is the lowest since May 2023.
   
   

   
   
   
2. Electric vehicle inventory continues to grow faster than that of the industry as a whole.
   
   May finished at 173k EVs in inventory, an increase of 3.1% against April and 81% vs. last year. After several months of decreases, the Ford Mustang Mach-E retook the top spot as production of the 2024 model year has ramped up.
   
   
   
   
3. On average, the days spent in advertised inventory have increased 74 days at the end of May, up from 55 days a year ago.
   
   This increase is seen across segments, with the full-size 3Qtr to 1 ton pickup and full-size half ton pickup segments having the oldest inventory at 91 and 78 days, respectively. In addition, compact and mid-size car segments have an average age of 56 days.
   
   
   
   
4. The average advertised discount of US inventory reached $3,149 at the end of May, $1,000 more than a year ago.
   
   This represents an advertised discount of 6.2% of MSRP. Full-size half ton pickups had the highest average advertised discount at $4,746, while the compact car had the lowest at $1,393.
   
   

This article was published by S&P Global Mobility and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.