GM could be one of the few automakers celebrating when full sales figures for 2022 are released for every company selling vehicles in the U.S.. While the market slumped as firms struggled with a shortage of inventory, GM shifted more metal in the region than Toyota, putting it back on top of sales charts.
Toyota knocked GM off the top of the U.S. sales charts in 2021, making that year the first since 1931 that the General had failed to ascend to the sales podium’s top step. But GM today announced that sales for 2022 actually increased by 2.5 percent, while Toyota revealed that its output fell 9.6 percent over the same period.
Toyota downgraded its forecast in November and the final official figures reveal it sold 2,108,458 vehicles in 2022, down from 2,332,262 in the preceding 12 months. GM shifted 2,218,223 vehicles during 2021 but sold 2,274,088 units in 2022.
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Industry experts at Cox Automotive have, per Reuters, forecasted that total market sales for 2022 amount to 13.9 million units, which would represent a drop of 8 percent from 2021 and a 20 percent fall versus 2016’s numbers.
Blame for the fall lies squarely with automakers’ lack of inventory. Demand remained strong, but chip shortages and high material costs resulted in a shortage of vehicles to sell, with available cars, trucks and SUVs often being sold for inflated prices. But Asian brands including Toyota and Subaru seem to have borne the brunt of the problems, meaning their sales have fallen more than some of their rivals’.
Analysts and automakers are being cautious about predicting huge gains in the coming months, some warning that the chip shortage will still be an issue until the second half of the year, and others suggesting that a global recession and lack of buyer incentives could hamper sales during 2022.
