US new vehicle sales last year rebounded slightly from 2020’s dismal numbers, but were still about 2 million below the years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although there are plenty of customers who want to buy new vehicles at hefty prices, there still are not enough computer chips for the industry to fully crank up its factories. Supplies are short, prices are high and many customers cannot get what they want.
Sales last year reached 15 million vehicles, up 3.4 percent from 2020, the year that the pandemic took hold in the US.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Demand is not off at all,” Cox Automotive executive analyst Michelle Krebs said. “What is off are sales, because the inventory doesn’t exist.”
Over the five years before the pandemic, sales averaged 17.3 million, Cox said.
Among the hardest hit by the chip shortage was General Motors Co, which was last year unseated by Toyota Motor Corp as the US’ top-selling automaker for the first time.
GM on Tuesday reported that last year’s US sales fell 13 percent from 2020 levels to 2.2 million, while Toyota saw its sales rise 10.4 percent to 2.3 million.
Like other automakers, GM was forced to temporarily close factories during the year as it struggled to get semiconductors, especially early in the year.
Krebs said that she was not sure whether GM could dislodge Toyota this year, because Toyota has managed the chip shortage better and has faster distribution.
GM diverted limited chip supplies to higher-margin pickups and full-size sports utility vehicles, boosting the company’s bottom line, spokesman Jim Cain said.
The company expects the chip shortage to ease this year, with more available in the second half, Cain said.
Among other automakers reporting full-year sales numbers were Ford Motor Co with a 7 percent year-on-year decline, Stellantis NV with a 2.2 percent drop and Subaru Corp with sales falling 4.6 percent below 2020, Motor Intelligence said.
Honda Motor Co posted an 8.9 percent increase, while Hyundai Motor Co saw a 23.3 percent jump, Motor Intelligence added.
Sales at Nissan Motor Co also rose, by 8.7 percent, while Volkswagen Group posted an 11.7 percent increase, it said.
Analysts and industry executives say that although chip supplies are improving, it is uncertain when they might return to pre-pandemic levels.
The average gas-powered vehicle has about 1,000 chips, and electric vehicles can have more than double that number.
IHS Markit analyst Phil Amsrud, who follows automotive chips, said that supplies would not immediately improve.
“We’re seeing 2022 as being an improvement over 2021, but it’s not going to start January third or fourth,” he said, adding that the second half should be better than the first.
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