Toyota (NYSE: TM) has topped General Motors (NYSE: GM) as the most popular automaker in the United States in terms of total sales in 2021, marking the first time that GM lost this title since the year 1931. This is also the first time that, in the United States, a non-domestic automaker has been in the top spot, in terms of being a bestseller.
The Japanese carmaker has sold over 2.3 million cars this in this past year alone, making it go up by 10%. On the other hand, GM's sales went down by 13% in 2021 (2.2 million) and deteriorated from the general lack of semiconductor parts that had been generally impacting the vehicle industry.
GM's United States sales had also been going down because of issues with its supply chain - in particular, the lack of computer chips. In turn, this led to the closing of many factories and kept inventory very low.
"The key constraint for sales continues to be reduced inventory levels as a result of the semiconductor shortage," GM chief economist Elaine Buckberg said in a statement.
Toyota has observed such a high level of hybrid sales as well as sales of other models, and the company has been much less impacted than other vehicle makers when it comes to chip shortages, mainly because of its choice to accumulate these parts directly after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It also, however, has been forced to cut back on manufacturing in the middle of these shortages.
Toyota North America's senior vice president of automotive operations, Jack Hollis, undermined the accomplishment of Toyota's ranking as No. 1. "Yes, we did surpass General Motors in sales," Hollis informed reporters during a call Tuesday. "But to be clear, that is not our goal, nor do we see it as sustainable."
The way that Toyota was able to reach the state of No. 1 rank was through improving sales of cars and trucks throughout this past year, even if it did have a 25% decrease when it came to sales of its full-size Tundra pick-up. The sales of its Tacoma pick-up, however, went up 5.7% to 252,520 units.
In spite of the fact that Toyota senior vice president is downplaying the success of Toyota, it is nevertheless flourishing, as it has made a major milestone in being the topmost selling vehicle for nearly a century. This will surely pave the way for an even stronger future for Toyota, and create more competition among other automakers in the process.