General Motors is no longer the number-one automaker in the U.S., ceding the top spot in U.S. auto sales to Japanese car brand Toyota. General Motors had previously held the position as the U.S. auto sales leader since 1931, marking the end of a 90-year streak.
Per the recent General Motors Q4 2021 U.S. Sales Results report, GM delivered a total of 2.2 million vehicles in the U.S. during the 2021 calendar year, a decrease of 13 percent compared to the year prior. Deliveries for Q4 of 2021 were reported at 440,745 units, a decrease of 43 percent compared to Q4 the year prior.
By comparison, Toyota delivered a total of 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. during the 2021 calendar year, an increase of 10 percent compared to the year prior.
Throughout the 2021 calendar year, U.S. auto sales were dominated by the ongoing global microchip shortage, with dwindling supplies of the critical components affecting the entirety of the automotive industry. In response to the shortage, General Motors prioritized its most lucrative and popular vehicles, namely its full-size SUVs and pickup trucks.
Toyota has been credited as handling the chip shortage better than other automakers.
Investors were unfazed by the news that General Motors is no longer the leader in U.S. sales. GM stock value rose following the release of the General Motors Q4 2021 U.S. Sales Results report, reaching $65.98 per share, a new all-time high. Dealer inventories were up 55 percent by the end of Q4 to 199,662 units, as compared to 128,757 units at the end of Q3. The average transaction price (ATP) for new GM vehicle sales was set at $45,000 for the year.
General Motors says that it expects economic growth and increasing microchip availability to increase U.S. auto sales in the coming year.
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Comments
Got to react faster GM, we’ll see if this is the case of the chips but least it’s better than BK Court. This wouldn’t happen in Japan, just sayin…
They will be de-throned relatively fast given that the current production is being halted on both sides. The only real benefit that GM has is tomorrows CES and in the reveal for the Silverado EV which needs to capitalize on what Ford couldn’t bring to the table.
Here come the excuses from the gm fangirls on here.
Peter
If you look up the word Pathetic in the dictionary, the 5th definition down is : a person who spends an inordinate amount of time on a GM website who doesn’t even like GM vehicles.
I did look it up funny because it listed you imagine that. I do like gm but I don’t like excuses but run along now you are a typical excuses making trumper.
Trumper 🤣😂🤣
You must be new to this website. Run along now Junior. Your mommy is calling.
Excuses = trumper run along now loser go storm the capital again and wear your tinfoil hat.
Hey buddy I haven’t seen you here lately I have missed the resident troll.
I was busy recounting votes in Georgia. For the 3rd time. Trump still lost.
Of course he did you do understand joe is president right? Let it go dude trump didn’t win.
Keep counting those votes trumper. Trump = loser which is you.
I’m past that. Now I’m working on magic pipelines. The kind that transport millions of barrels of oil even though they haven’t been built yet. TransCanada’s Keystone XL was one of these pipelines until Joe Biden shut it down with his magic signature.
The pipe line was not even close to complete lol so it wasn’t even benefiting us that’s just misinformation that it was. Joe has done more in his first year then trump did in his entire 4 year term. Tomorrow is a special day for you I bet I hope you celebrate the January 6th anniversary.
@Peter Joe has not done more for us than Trump shutup and stop watching so much cnn
Can’t help but point back to GM’s limited production with the Malibu, Equinox, Blazer, and Terrain. These are high-selling vehicles and surely they would have made a difference had GM not shut down production for months. Investors no doubt believe this was a one-time issue and so they are more likely to overlook it, but I still maintain GM risks losing buyers of Acadias, Tahoes, and Yukons in the future if they turn away would-be Equinox and Terrain buyers today.
Equinox and Terrain yes, but you have a funny way of spelling “full size pickups and SUVs”.
Silverado+Sierra HD and LD = 847k
Equinox+Terrain=356k
Traverse+Acadia=198k
Yukon+Suburban+Tahoe=188k
Colorado+Canyon = 121k
Malibu=100k
Blazer=94k
Yes, pick-up trucks are certainly more popular, but I didn’t say say “the highest selling vehicles.” I said “high selling.” Had GM kept all vehicles in production (not just the ones with high profit-margins) It’s likely GM could’ve beaten Toyota AND gained more potential brand-loyal customers.
Sad and pathetic. Too bad so many so-called Americans have decided to send billions of dollars into the Japanese economy. When my Volvo lease is up, I’m going back to a Chevrolet or Cadillac or Buick or Ford (in that order). The highest priority will be an American brand vehicle assembled in the USA.
BTW: I would love to know if Toyota still counts anything with a “Toyota motor” as a “sale” like they used to do. In the report I read years ago (maybe 10), Toyota was caught including sales of forklifts and other items with a Toyota engine as vehicle sales in total. That’s just how disgusting they are as a company.
So weird all the hate people have for Japanese companies but then turn around and praise when American companies move to china.
To bad so many so called Americans have decided to send billions of dollars into the Japanese economy? Ugh what about the trillions with a T into the Chinese economy? Including this company right here. Hope you comprehend Japan is our ally china is not.
Peter and Frank: First, You certainly are not reading where I am praising anyone or anything for going to China. You may be mistaken because I’ve clearly said in the past that I’d buy a GM vehicle assembled in China before I will ever buy anything Japanese. Very different, because you can also go back and read over and again where I clearly state that my preference has been and always will be an American brand assembled in the USA.
Secondly Frank, if you honestly think Japan is our friend, you are sadly mistaken. They may be an “ally” in a political way, but only because it benefits them. You ever hear the saying to keep your friends close and your enemies closer? From history, I feel strongly that we must keep them both very close to us and not trust either of them.
@ Dan
I would agree with wanting to buy American I myself would prefer not to buy an Chinese American vehicle or however you word it luckily plenty are still made here. I would say though unless I’m misunderstanding what you are saying Japan is our ally in more ways then just political yes I know what happened during ww2 but we have come along way since then. I think the Japanese military would have our back if we ever needed them. We are selling them the F-35 correct? We do military exercises with the Japanese military quite frequently and when the North Korean situation was seeming like it was going to come to a head Japan had our back. Everyone is entitled to there opinion and I respect yours. By the way I’m no military expert and I could be wrong with what I said but I believe that is what I have heard.
Danny: I fully get what you are saying. Politics certainly makes strange bedfellows as we all know. Like I said above, it behooves Japan to “have our back” because of the political (worldly politics) background.
But there’s 3 main things that I lean on when looking at this Japanese thing. First, when in college I did a large term paper on Pearl Harbor. I won’t go into detail here, but let’s just say when you truly learn about what happened and the Japanese people (beyond what people think they know), you will never look at it the same. Second, also while in college, I went with a group to Japan. Yes, it was a really cool and fun experience, but it was also a true eye-opener in a negative way. Third, just out of college I went into sales at a Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Honda store. Up to that point, I kind of liked Japanese brand cars even with what I learned in Japan and college. But after working with Honda for 12 years and truly learning just how they do business, that was all it took. I have a good friend who has been at a Toyota/Lincoln store for over 30 years now and he has filled me in many a time on Toyota’s ways. Let’s just say what what I know and have personally seen, no Japanese cars in my home ever.
Oh no say it ain’t so GM smh
At one time in history GM was on the leading edge of just about every automotive innovation including space and military. 75 years ago the engineers and leaders of this once great company would have looked at something like the chip shortage and decided to leap into producing their own and being a wholly self reliant company. Now the only way gm can lead the way is by the government subsidizing the company to make ventilators hospitals don’t need anymore.
Not even 30 years ago would it have been imagined GM would be a more viable company for the Chi-Coms than it is in it’s own home market. With Ms. Barra, the affirmative action hire by the pathetic BHO/China Joe administration we now have a company who bows at the feet of the Chinese. With the exceptions of Silverado, Sierra, Yukon, Tahoe, Escalade, and Corvette the now diminished lower case gm have not come up with any creative or competitive product ideas for the American market in over a decade and always last to the dance with new products we hear so much about but don’t see.
All foreign competitors have hung in there with high quality sedans, and gm has but a few left and they’re all on the way out. The multiple badge engineered cuv’s constantly rate at the bottom of their competitive set. The amazing Camaro has languished in the background and could have been so much more if gm had ever listened to the critics. Amazing Cadillacs dropped from the lineups, Buick is a cuv only brand now with 2 of the 3 being imported from Korea and China. Talk about a redundant useless brand that is only around because of the chi-coms.
The chip shortage and the Wuhan bat flu might have only sped up the demise, but the writing on the wall has been there for years.
GM used to make them until a few years ago.
Beautiful job, Mary.
My last GM vehicle purchase was a 2008 Pontiac G8. Have had Kias / Mitsubishi / Jeep since. My kids all in their 20’s have no interest in anything GM, same for my nieces and nephews – gm definitely has some issues!!
Thats just a result of poor parenting.
😂😂…that was funny but kinda mean.
GM higher ATP. Stock up. The new GM lean and mean. We don’t need all you losers.
Higher ATPs = Customers being gouged..
Higher stock prices= Telling Wall Street what they want to hear. Good for the short term but let’s see the long term.
This is happening despite the chicken tax and a bailout that was never repaid. That is true incompetence by the home team.
Good to know Americans choose quality though.
I don’t think that GM cares about market share anymore, it’s not Mary Barra’s priority. Profits and stock value are her main priorities. Don’t get me wrong, unlike a lot of people I do realize that making a profit is important. Profits are good, companies can’t stay in business if they don’t make a profit. But having had my own business, I also understand that a company can’t allow profits to become more important than things like customer service, knowing your buyer, providing a quality product, etc.
GM’s goals have changed, it started with De Nysschen at Cadillac. He was happy selling fewer cars, at a larger profit, he raised prices and attempted to change Cadillac’s target market. Mary is taking the same approach. She hasn’t changed pricing much, but she has abandoned markets and cancelled models and products that don’t make large enough profits, and changed and reduced many of the incentive programs. Investors approve of the “streamlining” of GM that she’s done, which is why the stock is up, even while market share is declining. Investors also like that GM’s average price per vehicle is at it’s highest ever. Part of the increase can be attributed to her streamlining of GM, part of it is because of the current market’s high demand for large SUV’s and pick ups, but it’s also a result of the shortage of vehicles, allowing dealers to sell the few cars and trucks they do have, for sticker or above.
Lost market share will bite you in the behind one day. Raising ATPs and prices only works when you have a superior product.
We know what happened. When you farm out chip production to foreign countries you leave yourself exposed to all manner of unexpected and unwanted situations. GM have not been producing enough vehicles, idling plants and parking vehicles missing electronics on lots.
Toyota took a big hit during the Fukishima disaster and unsurprisingly roared back. I believe GM will return to its top spot in North America as the chip shortage eases. Production sales and availability of GM vehicles will increase. But GM and other automakers need to use this as a learning experience. Stop depending on foreign producers for vital components!
Just wait until gm has to rely on China for the lithium for its batteries….
It was a bad year for auto makers Ford was even having trouble building enough F-150 trucks… Give them a break they will bounce back… Put TRUMP IN AS CEO OF GM that will fix this mess! Look at the cars on the road from all auto makers most cars are not brand new this chip shortage sucks.
Trump as CEO would provide GM with the same success as Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, the SIX failed casinos, and the fraudulent “university”.
@ Freedom Johnny damn the liberals are just taking over on this gm page
I hope yhat you are kidding.
Those Japs make some good cars.
Just wait until GM releases all of those electric vehicles! They will kick Toyota’s butt!! Ha! ha! ha!
People the Trim ceo thing was ment as a joke 🤣… But seriously if they build what people want then they would be number 1. They need to come out with new stuff like they did in the 80’s the Buick Grand national was awesome, the C4 Corvette for the time was great, even the the truck lineup was awesome… I remember I always like the port tuned injection.
Glory Days……..more interested in selling vehicles in China than Iowa.
Now now you all…remember what Thumper’s mom said….if you can’t say something nice don’t say nothing at all 😂😂. I don’t care if they are number one or number two, I just want my 2022 diesel Escalade ESV that I ordered last year!!!
From Roger Smith to Roger Smith with a bra, gm management has been #2 for a long time.
It looks as if management in Japan and South Korea is better than management in America.
At least GM can claim number one for 90 years. Can’t say the same about the other two companies that form the big three?