Sometimes true, sometimes not. When I get a chance Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll post the inventory status of several EVs. The ones that are “piling up” pretty much fit into a few categories…
- Way over-priced compared to other EVs of similar type.
- Very low range (<200 miles) compared to other EVs
- Lower trim level (typically 1-motor) versions of an EV that also offers 2-motor
- Imported and do not qualify for the IRA incentive
The ones that are flying off the lots tend to be:
- Priced in the $40 - 65k range
- 300+ driving range
- 2 or more electric motors
What we’ll find is 1-motor Nissan Ariya sit on the lots, especially the base battery size models with under 300 mile range. Meanwhile 2-motor Nissan Ariya with 300+ mile range are hard to find. We’ll find that base trim Bolt EV sits on lots but higher trim levels and Bolt EUV move pretty quickly. We’ll find that Polestar, Rivian, and Tesla move very fast. VW I.D4 not so much (short range).
There’s also an issue where for the first few months of sales, any addition of inventory looks like a humongous days supply, but it is more an issue of the math hasn’t settled out. This is actually true of all new nameplates, but since most EVs are new nameplates it shows up there. So what does that mean? Example…
Company A launches a new EV. In the first month of sales, they only sell 12. So now, the “average sales/ day is like 0.6.
Then in the second month they start filling dealership inventory. They push 2,000 units into inventory in the second month, and sales come in at 200. So average sales/day is now 5.3 (212 / 40) and the inventory is 340 days of inventory (1,800 / 5.3).
The next couple months they sell 2,400 and add another 2,000 to inventory. Their average sales per day is now 2,612 / 80 = 32.65. And their days inventory is 1,400/32.65 = 43 days inventory.