Steel Markets
GM Dealer Inventories Increasing, Production Still Constrained
Written by Laura Miller
October 28, 2022
In a positive sign for the automotive market, General Motors Co. completed and shipped a large number of vehicles in the third quarter, effectively increasing its US dealer inventories.
“As we’ve moved through the year, we’ve seen gradual improvement in the supply chain, including semiconductors,” chairwoman and CEO Mary Barra said on the company’s Q3 earnings conference call with analysts on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
Executives said on the call that the Detroit-based automaker completed and shipped nearly 75% of the unfinished vehicles it had held in inventory at the end of June. The vehicles, primarily full-size trucks and SUVs, had been built but were waiting for certain components in order to be finished.
GM reported its US dealer inventories to be 359,000 vehicles at the end of Q3 — a 48% improvement over the 248,000 in inventory at the end of Q2 and a 178% increase over inventories at the end of Q3 2021.
Dealer inventories remain well below historical levels, however, with inventory continuing to be tight at around 20 days, CFO and executive vice president Paul Jacobson said on the call.
“Total dealer stock, including in-transit vehicles, increased due to a combination of higher production, clearing out the portion of company inventory, and logistical challenges that have lengthened the time for vehicles to arrive at dealers,” Jacobson said.
“I’ll just add that we’re still very much in a production-constrained world as an industry against where demand is. … I don’t think we see big increases in production going forward,” he noted.
While Q3 total vehicle sales in the US were up 24% on-year to 556,000, sales of 1.651 million vehicles in the first nine months of the year were down 7% from the same period of 2021, according to the automaker’s Q3 earnings report.
By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Laura Miller
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