Big automakers like Ford (F – Get Report) and General Motors (GM – Get Report) have been cranking out light trucks and SUVs over the past year at a record rate of 8 million annually.
But sales haven’t kept up, and now dealer lots are starting to get full: U.S. inventories of the large vehicles have reached an unprecedented level of nearly 3 million, according to a new report from Bank of America, citing the auto-industry data tracker Wards Intelligence.
The backlog could spell trouble for shareholders of the automakers as well as employees. But the broader U.S. economy could suffer too. The overhang in inventories could shave off a crucial source of U.S. growth, Bank of America economists warned.
