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For the first time since 1931, General Motors Co. is not the best-selling car manufacturer in the US.
The Detroit-based company lost the crown to Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp., which saw sales rise 10% last year, despite a 28% drop in the fourth quarter. With 2.3 million units sold in the U.S. in 2021, Toyota surpassed GM’s estimated 2.2 million units.
The Japanese automaker said the sale of GM is unlikely to be sustainable. “That’s not our goal,” Jack Hollis, Toyota’s senior vice president of U.S. sales, said in a statement with reporters.
The above change reflects the one-year volatility that many automakers will leave behind. From honest shipping lines to semiconductor shortages, the challenges of 2021 left manufacturers struggling to keep up with demand. Although sales across the industry rose modestly from 2020 onwards, supply constraints shattered hopes of a rapid recovery from the initial downturn in the pandemic.
Automakers probably sold 12.5 million new vehicles at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, down 23% from a year earlier, according to the average forecast of six market research surveys surveyed by Bloomberg.
The extent of the problems became clearer on Tuesday, with most major automakers reporting sales in the fourth quarter of the U.S. and year-on-year sales. Ford Motor Co. is expected to release its data on Wednesday.
Car sales were estimated to be 14.9 million vehicles year-on-year, a 2.5% jump from the days of the coronavirus in 2020, according to Cox Automotive.
The year was not a bright spot. The challenges of the inventory have helped some buyers push for more profitable and opportunity-filled models, while accelerating the main embrace of electric vehicles. In fact, Tesla Inc. on Sunday surpassed Wall Street expectations with record quarterly global shipments.
Other automakers will find it difficult to match this type of performance. We’ll take a look at the results as major manufacturers have reported throughout the day.
GM is losing ground
GM’s annual sales fell 13%, down 43% from the last quarter. Chevy Silverado’s sales fell more than 30% and GMC Sierra’s sales fell 21% in the quarter. The car giant quickly blamed the chip cuts for its ailments, saying it put a 13% mark on sales.
This forced him to be a strategic GM about where he dedicated supplies. In a bleak quarter, sales of large Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade utility vehicles rose. These are the most profitable vehicles the company sells.
Key to investors, GM said semiconductor supplies had improved by the end of the year, and the company expected further improvements in 2022.
Toyota assumes
Toyota’s strong 2021 performance was boosted by sales of sedans like the Corolla and Camry. While the carmaker’s best-selling vehicle remained the RAV4, compact SUV sales fell 5% year-on-year. Corolla and Camry sales rose 5% and 6.6%, respectively.
Although the latest accounts for the industry are yet to come, Toyota is likely to gain a point of market share in the fourth quarter, with 15.5% of sales and a top spot. This is GM’s first time since 1931, when Ford won.
Honda Crossover makes deliveries
Like Toyota, Honda Motor Co. managed to increase its annual sales despite a sharp drop at the end. The number for December fell by 23% to 105,068 vehicles, and sales in 2021 rose by 8.9% to 1.47 million.
Honda’s strong CR-V crossover led shipments to 8.3%. The compact Civic and mid-size Accord sedans also performed well, maintaining the dominance of Asian brands in the segment. Among Honda’s biggest gains: its Ridgeline pickup and Passport’s mid-size SUV, both of which were redesigned to show a “steeper” look.
Hyundai’s cheap chic
Hyundai Motor Co.’s brand of the same name was one of the biggest winners last year, with sales up 19% from a year earlier. The Korean automaker lost steam in the last months of 2021, however, with 152,446 vehicle shipments falling by 15% in the fourth quarter. In December alone, sales fell 23%.
U.S. retail sales were the highest ever for the company, driven by demand for the Venue crossover compact model, which starts at less than $ 20,000, as well as the Kona SUV subcompact and the compact Tucson SUV.
Hyundai had the same inventory level as Toyota and other Japanese competitors, but availability fell at the end of the year, said Randy Parker, senior vice president of sales for Hyundai Motor America. The company was moved to encourage dealers who had not yet sold more cars.
“You get better at online retail and you get better at pre-selling your pipeline,” Parker said in an interview. “That’s exactly what we did, which helped us promote our success in a very difficult year.”
–With the help of Gabrielle Coppola and Keith Naughton.
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