Toyota overtakes General Motors as the best-selling automaker in the United States

DETROIT – General Motors lost the crown as the best-selling automaker in the United States, as sales fell 13% in 2021 to 2.2 million cars sold, allowing Toyota to take the top spot with 2.3 million sales last year.

Autotrader Michelle Krebs says GM’s first-to-second drop is the first time since the Great Depression.

“GM has never been beaten in annual sales in modern history,” Krebs said.

The global computer chip shortage has played a major role in the change at the top because it’s hard to sell new cars when you can’t get chips for them. This is the main reason why used car prices have skyrocketed.

A d

According to the Wall Street Journal, Toyota does not view its victory over GM as lasting and does not intend to use this victory in its advertising. At the start of the pandemic, Toyota’s decision put them in place, when they would be in a much better chip position than their predecessors.

“Toyota has experienced more production disruptions due to the chip shortage than Toyota,” said Sam Abuelsamid of Guidehouse Insights. “Toyota had stocked more chips, so most of the year they were able to maintain a more stable production rate than GM and many other manufacturers have.”