DETROIT – General Motors lost the crown as the top-selling automaker in the U.S. as sales dropped 13% in 2021, down to 2.2 million cars sold, allowing Toyota to take the top spot as it sold 2.3 million last year.
Autotrader Michelle Krebs says the drop from first to second by GM is the first time it has occurred since the great depression.
“GM has never been beaten in full-year sales in modern history,” Krebs said.
The global computer chip shortage has played a major key in the switch at the top as it is hard to sell new cars when you can’t get chips for them. It is the chief reason used car prices have shot through the roof.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Toyota does not see its victory over GM as sustainable nor intends to use that victory in its advertising. Early in the pandemic, Toyota’s decision set it up, whereas they would be in a far better chip position than its predecessors.
“Toyota saw more production disruption due to the chip shortages than Toyota did,” said Sam Abuelsamid of Guidehouse Insights. “Toyota had stockpiled more chips, and so most of the year, they were able to maintain a steadier production rate than GM and a lot of other manufacturers did.”