The GM logo appears on the facade of GM’s headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, March 16, 2021.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
DETROIT — General Motors’ US vehicle sales fell about 15% in the second quarter of last year as the automaker continues to battle supply chain issues, but showed improvement from early in the year.
Before announcing its sales results, the automaker said it had about 95,000 vehicles in its inventory built without certain components as of June 30, most of which were built in June. Despite the problems, the company maintained its guidance for the year.
GM’s second-quarter sales were slightly better than auto analysts’ expectations, who had expected a decline of 16% to 17%. Compared to the first quarter, GM’s sales of 582,401 vehicles increased 14%, indicating improved production and supply of vehicles from GM.
“We appreciate the patience and loyalty of our dealers and customers as we strive to meet significant pent-up demand for our products, and we will work with our suppliers, manufacturing and logistics teams to deliver all units located in our plants as quickly as possible,” said Steve Carlisle, President of GM North America in a press release.
GM reported that its vehicle inventory at the end of the second quarter was about 248,000 units, down 9.5% from the end of March. The automaker had about 274,000 vehicles in stock in the U.S. to end the first quarter.
General Motors outperformed Toyota for the first six months of the year, after the Japanese automaker outperformed its Detroit rival in 2021. It was the first time since 1931 that General Motors was not the best-selling auto company in the United States. . However, it’s something Toyota executives said at the time would not be sustainable.
Industry sales decline
Automakers such as General Motors have been scrambling to rebuild dealer inventories hit hard by production cuts amid a global shortage of semiconductor chips and other key auto components.
The problems caused automakers to intermittently shut down factories or slow production for weeks, if not months. Production shortfalls coupled with strong consumer demand drove auto stocks to record levels.
Since June 2021, Cox Automotive reports that monthly sales volume has been stuck in a narrow window, averaging 1.1 million units per month and peaking at 1.3 million in June 2021.
Auto analysts and forecasters expect US sales during the second quarter to be about 3.5 million, down between 19% and 21% from a year ago.
Other results
General Motors is among several major automakers set to report US auto sales for the second quarter on Friday. Here are the results for the others released:
- Toyota Motor said its second-quarter sales fell 22.9% from a year earlier to 531,105 units.
- Hyundai Motor Company, including its luxury brand Genesis, reported second-quarter sales of 198,136 units, down 23% for the second quarter from a year earlier.
- Kia’s sales in the second quarter were 182,146 units, down 16.8% compared to the second quarter of 2021.
- Sales of Porsche sports cars and SUVs totaled 1,987 during the second quarter, up 2.8% from the previous year.
- Mazda reported sales of 60,535 vehicles during the second quarter, down about 43% from the second quarter of 2021.