Brand new KIA cars are displayed on the sales lot at Serramonte Kia on March 26, 2025 in Colma, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
DETROIT – Supplies of new and used vehicles for sale in the U.S. are declining rapidly as consumers flock to purchase cars and trucks ahead of potential price increases due to tariffs, according to auto dealers and industry analysis.
The days’ supply of new vehicles – calculated by an estimated daily retail sales rate – dropped from 91 days at the beginning of March to 70 days this month, according to Cox Automotive. Used vehicle days’ supply, which had already been low, declined by four days to 39 days, the company said.
“Consumers are trying to get ahead of tariffs on imports,” Cox’s chief economist, Jonathan Smoke, said Tuesday during an online update. “The decline in [new] days’ supply was one of the largest drops we’ve seen in several years.”
That compares with a typical monthly days’ supply move in a normal market of roughly five days to seven days, according to Cox.
New vehicle sales are running 22% above the seasonally adjusted pace of last year and are up more than 8% on a year-to-date volume basis, Smoke said. In the used vehicle market, Cox estimates sales are “up sharply,” with a 7% increase thus far this year compared with 2024.
Increased sales are good for the automotive industry, which many analysts expected to be roughly level heading into the year. But there’s concern that the sales could come to a grinding halt once automakers and dealers sell out of their tariff-free inventories.
Auto advisory firm Telemetry expects the higher costs for production, parts and other factors to result in upward of 2 million fewer vehicles sold annually in the U.S. and Canada, in part due to higher costs and associated price increases.
Automakers and suppliers may be able to bear some of the cost increases, but they’re also expected to pass them along to U.S. consumers, which could in turn lower sales, according to analysts.
Many automakers built up inventories of imported cars and trucks before President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported vehicles went into effect on April 3. But some have altered imports, held vehicles in ports or completely halted them, as in the case of Jaguar Land Rover.
General Motors has been strategically increasing some U.S. production, including upping output at a pickup truck plant in Indiana as well as canceling previously announced downtime next month at a facility in Tennessee.
Ryan Rohrman, CEO of Indiana-based Rohrman Automotive Group, last week said April started off “pretty strong,” signaling a mix of tariff- and fear-purchasing along with improved inventories compared with recent years.
“Business right now is actually pretty strong,” said Rohrman, whose group has 22 franchises. “March was really good, and it hasn’t slowed down.”
Automakers Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis have taken the tariffs as an opportunity to sell down inventories by offering customers “employee pricing” deals.
Nick Anderson, general manager of a Ford dealership in Missouri, said that unique discount and concern that prices could soon go up in response to tariffs have both helped push price-conscious consumers to his showroom. That’s good for sales but has negatively impacted the store’s gross profits.
“We’re pacing to match or beat last year,” he said. “The majority of people we’re seeing are definitely more price-conscious. … Our volume is there but the gross is down. It’s just a different type of clientele.”
Anderson said he’s optimistic about sales this year but “a lot of it will just depend on the next 60 to 90 days — what happens to the tariffs.”
Trump on Monday said he is looking to “help some of the car companies” but didn’t elaborate on what that could entail.
Stellantis Chairman John Elkann said during the automaker’s annual meeting Tuesday that he was “encouraged” by Trump’s comment, noting the 25% tariff on imported vehicles and stringent emissions regulations in Europe are putting both car markets “at risk.”
