America’s best-selling automaker is no longer based in the United States as Toyota outsold GM in the second quarter.
According to CNBC, Toyota narrowly pulled ahead as the company sold 688,813 units in the United States last quarter compared to GM’s 688,236 units. That’s a remarkably close finish and Toyota easily beat Ford, which only racked up 475,327 U.S. sales in the second quarter.
This is a notable upset as the publication quoted Edmunds as saying the last time GM wasn’t the best-selling automaker for a quarter in America was when Ford outsold them in Q3 of 1998.
Also Read: Chip Shortage Forces US Automakers To Shift Focus To High-Profit Vehicles
Despite the second quarter loss, GM is still leading in year-to-date sales as they’ve sold 1,330,486 vehicles in the United States since January. That puts them slightly ahead of Toyota, which has sold 1,291,879 vehicles in the first six months of the year.
So what caused the upset in quarterly sales? CNBC pins it on the chip shortage, which has caused a number of automakers to temporarily halt production. The publication said “Japanese automakers, specifically Toyota, have been able to manage the crisis better than their American competitors” and they also noted reports have indicated Toyota was stockpiling chips to prevent shortages.
GM alluded to the challenges as their U.S. vice president of Sales Operations, Kurt McNeil, said “Although the situation remains fluid, we’re focused on continuing to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our highest demand products.” The chip shortage is impacting GM’s “very tight inventories,” which dropped from 334,628 units at the end of the first quarter to 211,974 units at the end of the second quarter.
