2027 cars are rolling in slower than usual. That's good news for 2026 buyers.

Fresh-faced 2027 cars are taking their time to reach dealerships.

Here's what that means for buyers.

Kevin Carter/Getty Images 2027's cars are arriving fashionably late: just 12.4% of new inventory is 2027.

Several brands are just getting started with their 2027 model-year shipments.

The slower switch could help patient shoppers score a deal on a 2026 model later this fall, analysts say.

The auto industry is clinging to 2026.

At the end of August, just 12.4% of new-vehicle inventory was 2027 model-year, according to CarGurus data shared with Business Insider.

That's a sharp break from recent patterns: At the same point in each of the past three years, roughly one-quarter of new dealership inventory was for the next model year.

Kevin Roberts, the director of economic and market intelligence for CarGurus, told Business Insider that the transition looks similar to the period from 2020 through 2022, when the industry was dealing with Covid-era assembly-line shutdowns and chip shortages .

This year is different and less existential, he said, because "a lot of factors all came together to create something kind of unique this year." High-volume cars are driving the trend GM's best-selling vehicle, the Silverado, gets a fresh design for 2027.

Chevrolet America's most popular cars are showing up late to the 2027 party.

Erin Keating, Cox Automotive's executive analyst, told Business Insider that the trend is largely powered by big-name vehicles getting refreshed designs at different times.

"In several cases, what looks like a slowdown at the brand level is really individual models rotating," she said.

"It's important not to read this as uniform across a brand's whole lineup." GM is the cleanest example.