LV Day’s Supply Falls Again in March

March new light-vehicle sales might have fallen short of the expected record, but they were robust enough to hold month-end inventory fairly steady despite strong North American production, and trim the days’ supply barometer.

Overall, there were 3,820,901 cars and light trucks in stock at dealers, or in transit to them, on March 31, virtually the same as the 3,835,491 inventoried a month earlier and 6.2% more than the 3,594,491 units stocked a year ago.

That translated into just 65 days’ supply at the end of March, down from 69 on Feb. 29, but well above the weak 58 days’ seen the prior year, when even stronger sales cut sharply into the available unit stock.

However, the month-end inventory falloff was nearly all due to a sharp decline in the number of cars on the lots to 1,558,517 units, some 3.3% less than the number tallied the prior month. It also was 7.0% fewer than the 1,676,619 units held at the end of March last year.

Relatively strong March car sales more than offset the production gains by domestic makes, with import cars also outselling the volume arriving at ports during the month.

As a result, the days’ supply of cars reached just 63 on March 31, compared with 70 at the end of February and 59 days’ a year ago.

On the other hand, the number of light trucks in stock increased 1.7% in March, rising to 2,262,384 from 2,224,086 on Feb. 29. It was 18.0% higher than the 1,917,444 units counted at the end of March 2015, a time when several plants were undergoing new-product launches.

The light-truck days’ supply held relatively steady at 67 in March compared with 68 the prior month and stood well above the mere 58 days recorded a year ago.

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