An old, unwritten rule of car sales tells dealers and factories to work together to keep about a 60-day supply of each new vehicle on hand for sale, with another 15 days on order or in transit. That, the pragmatism says, means that dealers have most color and feature combinations a buyer could want in easy reach. But they won’t have so many that they’ll need to discount them to sell them.
Ram currently has more than a 100-day supply of Ram 1500 full-size trucks on hand.
This Could Bring Back Discounts
The data suggest that incentives could soon make a comeback on full-size trucks – the best-selling segment of vehicles in America.
Also see: The final sale price of the average new car in America has begun to fall.
Incentives – discounts on new cars that help prime the sales pump – reached a 10-month high in February 2023. They increased to 3.0% of the average transaction price, compared to 2.8% in January. However, incentives remain at a historically low level.
But they may rise if inventory becomes a problem.
“We expect to see incentives rise some, particularly on segments and brands with the heaviest inventories,” says Cox Automotive Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough. “Right now, it feels like automakers are waiting for the other guy to blink first.”
Ram may have begun to blink. The company already offers a 0% APR plus up to $5,000 cash back on some Ram 1500 models – one of America’s Best New Truck Deals this month.