Automotive Industry Data Insights

The United States will impose a 25% tariff hike on all automotive imports beginning on April 2. The weeks before the impending tariff increase saw GM and Stellantis, two of OEMs expected to be hit hardest by the impending tariffs, experience a steep decline in “Day’s Supply,” suggesting savvy consumers have been preemptively visiting their dealerships to make a vehicle purchase ahead of expected price hikes. Dealerships have also experienced a significant 7% increase in website traffic year over year (YoY) in the last week of March, with Kia, Mazda, Subaru and Toyota experiencing increases ranging between 20% to 43%. Until the tariff increase announcement, traffic had been steady and consistent YoY.

With all eyes on the car industry as we kick off the 2025, we dove into the data to identify which OEMs are topping the scoreboards. Coming in at the top 3 spots are GM, Kia, and Mitsubishi, with the most car sales in January and February. GM saw a 15% increase in sales year over year (YoY) in January, and a whopping 24% increase YoY in February. Mitsubishi, proving itself to be an OEM to watch, came in with a near 17% increase YoY for January and an 18% increase YoY in February. Kia experienced a 12% increase YoY in January and a 13% increase YoY in February.

“It’s been a slow month,” said dealers everywhere as February came to a close. But according to Fullpath data, when comparing February 2025 to January of the same year, car sales actually increased by 2.83% MoM. When looking at the data year over year (YoY), February of 2025 was far more successful than that gut feeling showed with a 5% increase in car sales.

While Christmas time is a hot time for car buyers, it looks like Valentine’s Day is still owned by roses and chocolates. In fact, Fullpath data shows dealers saw 11% fewer sales in the days leading up to February 14 than they did in the period before and after the holiday. When compared to the same time period in January, dealers saw 7% fewer sales than they did for the holiday of love.

Riding this year’s interest rate roller coaster felt like watching a horror movie: it had highs and it had lows, and you never knew what to expect next, but you knew it was going to be bad. Fullpath data shows deals closed in 2024 experienced financing rates as high as 50%. With these rates, even the most modest of vehicles feel like luxury. 

The automotive industry is one of the largest spenders when it comes to digital advertising. But not all ads are created equal. As we approach the end of 2024, Fullpath data reveals the top 5 vehicles that garnered the most attention online including the Nissan Rogue, Mazda cx-5, Kia Sportage, Kia Sorento and the Toyota Rav 4, suggesting that crossover SUVs are top of mind for car buyers in today’s market.

While in the past people making big purchases would typically begin their shopper research on a desktop computer to carefully explore options and pricing, Fullpath data indicates this is no longer the case.  77% of car-buying research now happens on mobile phones, growing 26% in 2024. In contrast, car-buying research via desktop has declined by 9% in 2024. This proves the critical necessity of a mobile-optimized website for dealers in order to create the seamless shopping experience that wins customers.

A typical car shopper looks at just 2 models before making a purchase from your dealership, according to Fullpath data. Not only that, the typical car buyer will visit your website just 7 days before making their purchase. This suggests that most potential buyers have done extensive research before even landing on your website, let alone visiting your dealership. By the time they reach your site, they’ve likely narrowed down their choices about what car they want, making lead handling more critical in determining which dealership will win the shopper’s business.

The positive impact of AI on dealership revenues has dealers making big plans for AI spending in 2025. Fullpath data reveals that 81% of dealers expect to see an increase in their AI spending in 2025 as compared to 2024 reflecting a strong commitment to expanding AI adoption.

While the fear of technology displacing humans from jobs has led to a delay in AI adoption in car dealerships, Fullpath data shows that 72% of dealers believe AI enhances performance without replacing human employees. While AI is certainly on the rise, it is intended to boost human efforts rather than replace them altogether.

One hundred percent of dealers who implemented AI have seen a positive Return on Investment (ROI) from their AI solutions over the last year, suggesting that AI is driving substantial revenue growth for dealerships across varying levels of adoption. In fact, 55% of dealerships that have implemented AI reported a 10-30% increase in revenues in 2024, with 18% percent reporting a growth of over 30%. This suggests that AI solutions are driving substantial revenue growth across varying levels of adoption.

The political uproar that comes with every election cycle takes its toll on pretty much everything – including the cost of digital advertising. According to Fullpath data, paid advertising becomes significantly more expensive during the lead up to a presidential election. With the polls opening in just a few weeks, demand for ad space across Meta’s social media platforms – including Instagram and Facebook – increases exponentially, and with heightened demand comes increase in costs. If we look at the 2020 election cycle as a case study, dealers can expect to see a 6.5% increase in costs in CPM (Cost Per 1,000 Impressions) compared to costs in a non-election season. In swing states,  dealers can expect to see an increase of as high as 16% in the run up to the election. Keep an eye on your ad spend folks!

Dealers are swimming in data. Between the CRM, DMS, website analytics, ad performance, and more, dealership data is riddled with duplicate customer data, making it ineffective for hyper-targeted marketing and proper sales follow up. Fullpath data shows that, on average, 10% of dealer customer data is made up of duplicate profiles, with some individual dealers seeing as high as 42% of their CRM data made up of duplicate shopper profiles. Attempting to engage shoppers who have multiple identities not only wastes time and money, it creates a negative shopper experience.

Rising interest rates and iffy financing terms have led to people holding on to their cars for longer – which means more visits to the service lane than usual. Fullpath data indicates that, on average, car owners are visiting the service lane every 6-9 months, depending on the manufacturer. Buick and GMC saw the highest rates of service, with an average of 6 months between visits, with Chevrolet coming in at 9.3 months between visits. Overall, on average, car owners are servicing their vehicles once every 7.9 months, making the service lane a valuable point of contact for dealers and their customers.

Just a few years ago, an inventory surplus was unthinkable for dealers due to COVID-19 induced chip shortages. Inventory levels hit normal over the last month, putting dealers back to actively selling cars and putting the days of buy-one-sell-one in the rearview mirror. This shift in inventory and shopper demand is leading to longer time on lot and higher inventory costs. Fullpath reviewed six major car brands and found a staggering 109.47% YoY increase in the average time on the lot, with one brand experiencing over a 200% increase. In short, for many OEMs, there are vehicles that are now lingering on lot for an average of over six months before being sold. As we move towards Q4, we’ll be watching to see how this impacts end of year pricing and sales.

You may have thought you were just imagining it but unfortunately, it is true: cost per click on Google SEM is on the rise. Over the last month, many dealers have seen a rise in ad costs. We found that Cost Per Click (CPC) has increased 32% year over year, year to date. May 2024 on its own saw a 40% increase in price when compared to May of 2023. The internet rumor mill has suggested that Google made an update to their SEO algorithm back in March which has made it that much harder to appear in search results.

We believe this rise in CPC will continue over the next few months as Google has announced plans to release an AI-powered chatbot designed to deliver automated conversations, a new feature that will undoubtedly impact SEO performance. Fullpath has found that the key to keeping your CPC down, even in times of uncertainty, is not only to master your SEO, but to properly leverage your first-party data to create smarter, more targeted and relevant audiences for your campaigns so every click counts.

Fullpath reviewed data pulled from 765 dealerships about 1 million cars to get a look at the average selling price for a vehicle per month over the course of the last year. Despite this period of economic uncertainty in the US, selling prices on new and used vehicles has remained relatively stable over the last 12 months.

Watching car financing interest rates over the last few months has been like watching reality TV – full of drama and unpredictability. Recently things have taken a turn for the weird. Financing interest rates on new vehicles have remained relatively steady with slight increases and decreases along the way, while used vehicles have seen a steady increase over the last two quarters.

The Fullpath team was interested in understanding how much impact a dealership’s website has on the shopper journey. We pulled millions of website data points and discovered that, on average, a typical dealership customer will visit 9.6 VDPs before purchasing a vehicle from the dealership. When looking at shoppers who are marked as ‘Showroom Leads,’ on average, 20% of those leads spent time on the dealership’s website before turning up at the showroom.

After reviewing over 30,000 new car sales records in the USA, Fullpath data shows the different car prices as they compare to MSRP, by brand. This means your dream car is closer than you think if they’re selling at a percentage below MSRP, and it may be worth a chat with your friendly local dealer.

Fullpath data shows used inventory has been steadily increasing since April of last year in dealerships across the country, hitting a new peak in December 2023. The same cannot be said for pricing however. As used inventory has gone up, prices have been trending down. We’ll be keeping an eye on this so stay tuned for more!

Pre-order season is coming to end – so who came out on top? The top pre-ordered OEM this year was Subaru, taking the top 2 slots of the top 10 pre-ordered 2024 vehicles. Coming in second and third is Kia and Chevy, making a strong showing with 2 vehicles each making the top 10. Rounding our the top 10 OEMS is Toyota, CDJR, Honda, Buick, Hyundai, BMW and Mazda.

Everyone seems to be talking about the future of EVs and what comes next – what people are not talking about is how EVs are just not moving. Fullpath data shows that EVs are spending a whopping 72 days on lot, while hybrids are selling like hotcakes, spending just 39 days on lot. What does this mean for EVs in 2024? Only time – and maybe some infrastructure changes – will tell.

Time to check one thing off your wish list – Fullpath is bringing you this season’s hottest deals so you can nab your dream vehicle before the holidays! Hyundais, Toyota, Ram and Dodge are all offering discounts of $6,000 or more so now is the perfect time to visit your local dealership.

We love a good deal – especially in today’s unpredictable market. We took a dive into Fullpath’s database to find the top 10 cars you can buy for under $25,000 in Fall 2023. While no EVs made the list, there is at least one affordable hybrid vehicle out there (we’re looking at you, Toyota Corolla Hybrid). Based on this list, there are some pretty solid vehicles out there for the savvy shopper looking to get good value for your hard earned dollars.

While interest rates show no sign of falling, there are a couple of hot Fall discounts car buyers can nab this season! Fullpath data shows dealers are offering discounts upwards of $6,000 on select vehicles this season making it a great time to pop into your local dealership.

While interest rates have continued to rise faster than a released helium balloon over the last year, car prices have remained….surprisingly steady – for both new and used vehicles. According to our in-house experts, if you want to buy a new car but want to avoid getting pounded by interest rates, your best bet is to buy in cash – if you can swing it!

Not only have car prices held steady, they have actually improved over the last few months for most brands, with nearly 2x as many vehicles selling below MSRP than there were just one year ago.

Automotive interest rates over the last year show a steady climb for both used and new vehicles. Used vehicles experienced a 25% increase over the last year, while new vehicles experienced a 31% increase. What will the rest of 2023 bring? Only time will tell – but we predict these numbers will not turn down any time soon.

We took a dive into the Fullpath database to get a quick read on color preferences when it comes to buying a new car. No surprises here as the top ranking colors came in as white, black, and silver/gray. The least requested colors? Brown and yellow – but who wants a brown car anyway?

While interest rates seem to be holding steady, Fullpath data shows that 10% of car owners are facing payments upwards of $1,000/month, up from 7% in 2022. So, is this what the average car buyer should expect when financing a vehicle? Time will tell.

For some, the status of driving a luxury car is worth the extravagant price tag. According to Fullpath data, there are active leases in 5 states in the US where people are paying between $4,000-$5,600 for the privilege of leasing a luxury vehicle with the highest payment coming in at an astonishing $5,635 per month for a 36 month lease on a 2022 Acura NSX.

Don’t let interest rates keep you from getting into your dream car this summer. Fullpath is coming in hot with this summer’s best discounts! Top dealers are offering discounts between $3,250 – $7,500 on select models. Check out the chart for more information.

Car buyers are bearing the brunt of the ever climbing interest rates in the US. Over the last few weeks, we have seen car buyers forced to finance their cars with 29%+ interest rates suggesting that purchasing a car in the current economic climate may not be the best choice for shoppers with less than perfect credit.

We took a deep dive into our data to take a look at inventory supply levels and discovered that certain models are available in abundance. Most available units include the Ram 1500 with over 46,000 units, the Jeep Compass with 34,777 units, the Ford F-150 with 23,094 units, and the Chevy Silverado 1500 with 17,701 units.