The current state of new vehicle inventory levels – Brian Finkelmeyer, vAuto

Low vehicle supply with great demand has been a common theme throughout this pandemic and also a pain point for most dealers. So what’s currently selling, and when will inventory levels return? Today, we’re joined by Brian Finkelmeyer, senior director of new car strategies at vAuto, a Cox Automotive company.

According to Cox Automotive data, back before the pandemic, there were 1.5 million additional vehicles on dealership lots back in February, than what analysts saw at the beginning of September. So, the industry is down from about 3.75 million cars, to around 2.25 million cars. However, what is truly incredible is that despite all of the production challenges, new car sales volume continues to impress. In fact, Finkelmeyer believes that sales will only be off around 5-6% from this time last year.

“Who would have thought, that in the midst of the biggest economic and health crisis in the past 100 years, that dealers would be making more money than ever,” says Finkelmeyer.

It will also be really interesting to see how the last quarter of 2020 shakes out. Finkelyemer says there are several things at play that are worth noting, one of which is the model year change over. Typically, manufacturers will take a break in the mid-to-late summer to re-tool for the new model year 2021s. Well, that has not really happened so far this year. According to Finkelmeyer, when analysts look at the amount of model-year 21s on the ground today, it’s only 3% of the mix, but a year ago, it was almost 25% of the mix.

To hear more from Brian Finkelmeyer on vehicle affordability, new vehicle inventory supplies, and industry analysis, be sure to watch our entire interview above.