Toyota Motors unseated General Motors as the top-selling automaker in the United States in 2021 for the first time in history.
Automakers were forced to focus on most profitable models as industry was hit by shortage of semiconductors coupled with Covid pandemic in the year. GM sales dropped 13 pc largely due to chip shortage. Toyota has managed the shortage better and has a faster distribution that led to an increase in sales of 10.4 pc.
Reuters reports that in the first nine months of 2021, Toyota sold 1.86 million vehicles in the United States compared with GM's 1.78 million, or just over 80,000 more vehicles.
In 2020, GM sold 2.55 million vehicles in the US market, compared with Toyota selling 2.11 million and Ford selling 2.04 million.
Analysts and industry executives expect chip supplies to slowly improve this year, with more available in the second half. But it's not certain when they'll get back to pre-pandemic levels. The average gas-powered vehicle has about 1,000 chips, and electric vehicles can have more than double that number.
However, IHS Markit analyst Phil Amsrud, who follows automotive chips, told AP that supplies won't improve immediately. We're seeing 2022 as being an improvement over 2021, but it's not going to start January third or fourth, he said, adding that the second half should be better than the first.
Cox Automotive, which tracks the industry, expects 2021 sales to be 14.9 million vehicles, up 2.5% from 2020, the year the pandemic hit the US and forced the industry to shut down for eight weeks.
But over the five years before the pandemic, sales averaged 17.3 million.
