Cheap Cars Are The Only Ones Selling Quickly
New cars are selling a bit faster than they once were, but it's being mostly propped up by the only cars people can actually afford to buy: ones that cost under $25,000. Overall, new vehicles sit on dealer lots for 73 days, but cars that are priced at less than 25 grand spend just one-and-a-half days at the dealership before being snatched up. That's a blistering pace.
While new vehicle inventory in the U.S. did in fact fall 1.6% year-over-year in November to 3.09 million units, that 73-day supply is actually a slight uptick from October's 70-day supply, according to Automotive News. A big reason for that could be electric vehicles. The $7,500 federal EV tax credit is dead, and it has caused EVs to sit on dealer lots even longer than they already were. Now, the supply is up to 126 days — 19 more than it was a month ago. This is all according to data from Lotlinx, a dealership data company.
When it comes to non-EV powertrains, the numbers are far more favorable. Automakers started December with a 60-day supply of hybrids (up from 57) and a 75-day supply of gas-powered cars (up from 72). Market segments also play a sizable role. Minivan inventories were clearly the tightest at just 58 days. That was followed by sedans at 60 days, SUVs and 73 days and pickup trucks at 80 days.
When you look at all seven automaker that actually report monthly sales figures, Toyota was by far and away the company running the leanest. It carried just a 31-day inventory in November, which is honestly so impressive if you consider how many vehicles it builds on a daily basis.
Pay to play
It doesn't take much of a brain genius to realize why there is so much demand for cheap cars. From where I'm sitting, it's a two-pronged situation. The first is rather simple: people are broke. Just because someone doesn't have the requisite $50,000 average to spend on a brand new car, doesn't mean they don't want one. People can still want a warranty and all of the other nice things that come with a new car, regardless of pricepoint. Because of that, they're flocking to the cheapest possible option. The second part of this equation is the fact that there just aren't many cars for sale under $25,000 right now.
According to Cars.com, there are just nine cars for sale in the U.S. that cost less than $25,000 when destination charges are included. They are the Toyota Corolla ($24,715), Hyundai Elantra ($24,615), Kia K4 ($24,380), Nissan Kicks Play ($24,300), Nissan Sentra ($24,180), Kia Soul (rest in piss at $23,380), Chevy Trax ($23,290), Hyundai Venue ($23,190) and Nissan Versa ($21,680).
This means there are some pretty slim pickings if you're a buyer who wants to buy a new car but doesn't quite have the cash to shell out for something terribly expensive. I don't expect things to get better in 2026 either. We already know the Soul is (thankfully) dead for 2026, and I'm going to assume that at least a few of these cars will see price increases that bring them over the $25,000 mark. It's bleak out there, man.