Automakers should watch their bloated inventories even though 2014 seems like it will be a good year for car sales, AutoNation Chairman and CEO Mike Jackson told CNBC on Thursday.
The automakers have a "pretty bizarre" way of calculating inventories to justify these levels, he said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "But if you cut through the bogus calculations and look at dealer inventory for the Detroit 3, it's over a 100-day supply. And it simply doesn't need to be there."
In response, Joe Hinrichs—president of the Americas at Ford—told CNBC: "We have been cutting some production in the fourth quarter of last year and in the first quarter of this year on a couple of our product lines where we saw the inventory grow a little bit."
(Read more: Ford beats on strength in N. America)
