General Motors loses US car crown for first time in 90 years, as Toyota overtakes

With 2.3m units sold in the US in 2021, Toyota narrowly outpaced GM’s 2.2m

Toyota has overtaken General Motors as the number one car seller in the US.

TUE, 04 JAN, 2022 -

For the first time since 1931, General Motors is not the top-selling carmaker in the US.

The Detroit-based company has lost its crown to Japanese rival Toyota, which boosted sales 10% last year despite a 28% decline in the fourth quarter.


With 2.3m units sold in the US in 2021, Toyota narrowly outpaced GM’s 2.2m.

The Japanese carmaker said outselling GM may not be sustainable. “That is not our goal,” said Jack Hollis, a senior vice president in charge of US sales for Toyota.

Challenges of 2021

The change at the top reflects the volatility of a year many carmakers will be happy to leave behind. From snarled shipping lines to semiconductor shortages, the challenges of 2021 left manufacturers struggling to keep up with demand.

While industry-wide sales, in the US, appeared to rise modestly from 2020, supply constraints shattered any hope of a quick recovery from the early pandemic slump.

Carmakers likely sold a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 12.5m new vehicles in December, down 23% from a year earlier.

The extent of the issues became more clear on Tuesday as most major carmakers reported US sales for the fourth quarter and full year.

For the full year, US vehicle sales likely came to 14.9m vehicles, a 2.5% jump from the coronavirus-stricken days of 2020.