DETROIT: Toyota Motor Corp grabbed the US sales crown from General Motors Co., swiping an honour that the Detroit automaker has held since Herbert Hoover was president.
If GM’s explanation is to be believed - that its 43% fourth-quarter sales decline and 13% tumble for the year stemmed from a semiconductor shortage - then last year’s sales race was really a supply-chain pageant.
Whoever could best cajole stretched chip producers for more product came out a winner.
Navigating the squeeze has been a nightmare for the auto industry, and especially for US carmakers. While GM’s sales fell for the year, Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. posted gains.
Toyota may not be No. 1 - the spot GM had occupied beginning in 1931 - for long.
"We see it as not sustainable,” Jack Hollis, the company’s senior vice president of automotive operations, said without elaborating Tuesday at a briefing for reporters.
GM agreed. Steve Carlisle, the carmaker’s president for North America, said the company will increase sales this year.
Most major automakers reported fourth-quarter US sales on Tuesday, with Stellantis NV, which owns the Jeep and Ram brands, posting full-year sales down 2% and an 18% drop in the last quarter.
Ford Motor Co. is expected to release its figures Wednesday.
To retake its leadership position, GM will have to return to something closer to the 2.5 million vehicles the company delivered in 2020.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic and semiconductor shortage hit, GM sold about 2.9 million vehicles in 2019.
"Our dealers and our engineering, supply chain, manufacturing and brand teams moved mountains to satisfy as many customers as possible in 2021” Carlisle said in a statement.
"In 2022, we plan to take advantage of the strong economy and anticipated improved semiconductor supplies to grow our sales and share.”
Market share is vital to GM’s long-range target of doubling revenue to US$280 billion.
That will require keeping buyers of gasoline-burning cars and trucks and stealing new ones who want electric vehicles.
And as production recovers, GM may not want every sale it can get. Domestic automakers typically keep 80 days worth of vehicles on dealer lots, while Japanese automakers keep as few as 50 days worth available.
Thinner inventory allows for better pricing and fatter profits.
Consumers today are paying record prices, since automakers don’t need rebates and dealers don’t need to bargain heavily.
