The delivery numbers for 2021 are in, and Toyota is the largest automaker in the United States for the first time ever. This is the first time in 90 years for General Motors not to wear the crown as the volume leader in the country.
Toyota moved 2,332,262 vehicles in the US in 2021, which was up 10.4 percent over 2020. GM had 2,218,228, which was a 12.9 percent drop from the previous year.
Gallery: 2022 Toyota RAV4
"Toyota is grateful to our loyal customers for putting their safety and trust in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Being No. 1 is never a focus or priority. The company's focus has always been being the best brand in terms of safety, quality, and value in customers' minds," said Jack Hollis, the senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor North America, in a statement to Automotive News.
The RAV4 was Toyota's strongest selling product in 2021. The automaker delivered 430,387 of them in the US, which was a 5.3 percent drop from 2020.
Gallery: 2022 Chevrolet Silverado
The light-duty Chevrolet Silverado was the best-selling model among all of GM's brands in the US for 2021. The automaker moved 380,715 in the country for the year, which was down 12.7 percent from 2020. Adding in the medium- and heavy-duty Silverados takes the total volume figure to 529,765 trucks, which was a 10.8 percent drop from the previous year.
The Big News From 2021:
GM and Toyota had struggles with the global chip shortage in 2021. For example, Toyota had to idle factories around the world in September to reduce global production by 360,000 vehicles.
GM also had to cut production. The automaker also produced some vehicles without features like seat heaters and parking sensors to save its supply of chips.
The chip shortage isn't going away, either. Predictions suggest the crisis might not let up until mid-2022 or even into 2023.
Source: Automotive News