American Auto Inventory Grows

Automakers had a stockpile of about 3.1 million unsold cars and light trucks in the U.S. on Dec. 1, the largest in nearly four years, Automotive News reports.

But the newspaper says that December's inventory translates to a 69-day supply of vehicles because of strong sales in recent months. (Days supply is inventory divided by average daily selling rate.)

A 60- to 65-day stockpile is generally considered ideal. But over the past 20 years carmakers have started December with an average 72-day supply because of seasonal factors.

General Motors was the only big automaker this month with inventories significantly higher than the seasonal average: a 106-day stockpile, up from 90 days on Nov. 1. Much of GM's increase was in fullsize pickup trucks.

Supplies expanded by 7 days month over month to 90 days at Chrysler and were unchanged at 42 days at Hyundai-Kia. All the other major carmakers shrank their stockpiles from November to December.

Earlier news reports noted that the Detroit automakers have unusually high inventories of small cars.