Desk Report
Publish: 05 Jan 2022, 09:20 pm
Photo: Collected
Toyota
Motor sold more cars and trucks last year in the United States than General
Motors, the first year in recorded history that a foreign automaker has outsold
American manufacturers.
GM,
Ford Motor and other US automakers produced and sold fewer cars than they were
hoping to in 2021 because they were hit hard by a global computer chip
shortage. Toyota was less affected by the shortage for much of the year because
it had accumulated a large stockpile of the parts.
The
victory for Toyota comes in a strange year for the industry. In addition to the
chip shortage, the coronavirus pandemic and related supply-chain problems
depressed sales while driving up prices of new and used cars, sometimes to
dizzying heights. Auto manufacturers sold just under 15 million new vehicles in
2021, according to estimates by Cox Automotive, a firm that tracks the
industry. That is 2.5 percent more than in 2020 but well short of the 17
million vehicles the industry typically sold before the pandemic took hold.
Toyota
said Tuesday that it sold 2.3 million trucks and cars in the United States,
which was slightly ahead of GM’s 2.2 million. Ford is expected to finish third
when it releases its sales data Wednesday.
“The
dominance of the US automakers of the US. market is just over,” said Erik
Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan who follows the auto
industry. “Toyota might not beat GM again this year, but the fact that they did
it is symbolic of how the industry changed. No US automaker can think of
themselves as entitled to market share just because they’re American.”
The
shortage of chips stems from the beginning of the pandemic when auto plants
around the world closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. At the same
time, sales of computers and other consumer electronics took off. When
automakers resumed production, they found fewer chips available to them.
Toyota
had access to more chips available because it changed its strategy and set
aside larger stockpiles of parts after an earthquake and tsunami in Japan
knocked out production of several key components in 2011.
GM
had topped the chart in auto sales for nearly a century, after speeding past
Ford in the late 1920s and early ’30s.
Toyota
started selling cars in the United States in 1965 and started production at its
first US plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1988, building a reputation for
quality as GM, Ford and Chrysler struggled. Its growth also raised trade
tensions between the United States and Japan and gave rise to popular fears
that Japanese businesses would decimate US companies.
Toyota
then expanded into luxury cars with its Lexus brand and added the Toyota Tundra
full-size pickup truck to compete in a segment dominated by the manufacturers
based in and around Detroit. By the beginning of this century, the Toyota Camry
was often the top-selling car in the country, and the Japanese automaker soon
passed both Chrysler and Ford in annual sales.
Its
image was further enhanced when it introduced the Prius hybrid as gasoline
prices were rising and consumer tastes were focusing more on fuel economy.
But
Toyota has been slower to embrace fully electric vehicles, which could undercut
its growth in the coming years. Sales of electric cars and trucks solely
powered by batteries are growing fast around the world, and Tesla dominates
that segment of the industry. The electric carmaker reported a nearly 90
percent jump in global sales in 2021, and its shares are worth vastly more than
the stocks of Toyota, GM, Ford, Volkswagen and other major automakers combined.
Toyota
has also not been spared by the chip shortage. In recent months, the company
has had to sharply slow production because as it has exhausted its chip
stockpile it had to wait for its suppliers to make more.
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Topic : Toyota Motor United States
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