A 30-day supply back for 3 public auto groups

Inventory availability is improving, Lithia COO Chris Holzshu said on the group’s April 19 earnings call. However, several automakers, which he did not identify, have not invested in additional consumer incentives to meet retail demand, he added.

“When you look at finance incentives, they’re still 50 percent of what they were two years ago,” Holzshu said. “And when you see that we have inventory on the ground right now — especially in the domestic lines — that is not moving, our day supply is building. And [if] you look at the fleet business, which was up 60 percent in the quarter, you start to see that there’s a timing of when incentives are definitely going to have to flow back to the consumers, which is going to help us drive more retail.”

Lithia, of Medford, Ore., ranks No. 1 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 271,596 new vehicles in 2022. Lithia’s sales figures include dealerships outside of the U.S.

Sonic franchised dealerships carried a 31-day supply of new-vehicle inventory in the first quarter, including vehicles in transit, up from a 15-day supply a year earlier. Sonic had a 24-day supply in the fourth quarter.

Dyke said new-vehicle inventory has gone from around a 20-day supply to a 30-day supply on average for Sonic and other retailers.

“We expect that to continue to grow,” he said. Automakers will not keep supply in the 25- to 30-day range, he added, but closer to 40 days.

Sonic, of Charlotte, N.C., ranks No. 6 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with sales of 101,168 new vehicles in 2022.

Asbury Automotive Group Inc. saw 30 days of new-vehicle inventory in the first quarter, up from a 10-day supply a year earlier and slightly more than the 26 days it had at the end of the fourth quarter.

However, Asbury remains extremely short of vehicles for some brands, CEO David Hult said on the group’s Tuesday, April 25, earnings call. Dan Clara, Asbury operations senior vice president, said it had a 63-day supply of domestic vehicles but only 18 days for imports.

Asbury’s days’ supply of Toyota, its No. 1 brand, remained in the single digits for the entire first quarter. “The hot models, we didn’t really have much inventory at all,” Hult said.

The group also carried a single-digit days’ supply of Honda vehicles through most of the first quarter, though that rose to the “mid-teens” near the end, Hult said.

“So the demand was there, and the volume was there to do more,” he said, “we think at a healthy margin.”

On the other hand, Asbury had more than a 60-day supply of vehicles from Stellantis, its No. 2 brand, Hult said. Stellantis sales were hindered by “heavily contented trucks,” incentives still “catching up” and stop-sale orders, he added.

Asbury sold vehicles with single-digit days’ supply at sticker price, Hult said, while those “north of a 40-day supply” were discounted.

Asbury, of Duluth, Ga., ranks No. 5 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with sales of 151,179 new vehicles in 2022.