Toyota Sales: Updated Jan. 22

 Article Source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220105/p2g/00m/0bu/018000c

Article:

NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- Toyota Motor Corp. outsold General Motors Co. in the United States last year with new car sales of 2.33 million, clinching the top spot in the market for the first time despite a chip crunch.

Toyota became the first non-U.S. carmaker to top the annual sales ranking in the country, dethroning GM that had been the No. 1 seller since 1931, according to U.S. media.

The Japanese automaker said Tuesday its new vehicle sales in the United States in 2021 increased 10.4 percent from the year before to 2,332,262 units. Toyota had ramped up procurement efforts to navigate through the semiconductor crisis.

Ideas:

Toyoto knows its probably not going to mainatain the No. 1 spot for 2022, as GM has been No. 1 since 1931. Most likely the chip shortage afffected GM's suppliers and factories more than it did Toyota.

Most likely it had nothing to do wilth sales, financing, marketing, or even consumer choice but just supply chain disruptions.

But the fact car makers were still able to sell over 2 million cars might indicate the supply shortage, overall, didn't entirely disrupt sales or manufacturing.

It might have some affect on shareholders who were expecting a higher sales volume and or a higher dividend return on profts, but probably not that much, as there was still a 10.4 percent increase in sales from a year before.

Article:

GM sold 2,218,228 vehicles last year, down 12.9 percent from the previous year as the chip shortage and supply chain disruptions forced many of its North American factories to halt production.

Toyota's sedans, such as the Corolla and Camry, as well as its Tacoma pickup trucks sold particularly well, according to the Japanese company.

However, Toyota's top-seller status may be short-lived as GM predicts its sales will expand this year with gradual improvement in the supply issue.

Ideas:

Yes,Toyota probably won't be No. 1 in 2022 and GM will most likely solve its supply challenges and will back in the No. 1 slot again. 

As the sedans sold particularly well, as is common, did Toyota have any marketing campaigns or sales promotions as a way to remind customers we are here we are in business and we have the cars you want and need without saying anything about GM or the supply chain problems.

The chip problem didn't really hit until the summer of 2021, so both GM and Toyota had almost half the year to produce cars as normal.

But most likely because many of the chips manufacturers are in South-East Asia it might have easier for Toyota to get what they needed before GM was able to. 

And at the same time the shipping and container problems were hitting LA and Long Beach in California in the US which meant that might have had an affect on GM if the chips already produced were just sitting in container ships off the coast of California sometimes as much as 2 or 3 months just waiting to be unloaded.

There might be gradual improvements but already Toyota in later articles has said they have to reduce manufacturing again at some plants. So if Toyota is having further challenges then no doubt GM is too.

Article:

Toyota said it does not believe it can maintain the No. 1 position and being the top seller is not the company's top priority.

"We thank our customers as well as all of our employees engaged in sales and production of our cars in the United States," Toyota President Akio Toyoda told reporters online.

The new car sales in the United States of six major Japanese automakers rose 8.6 percent in 2021 from a year earlier to a total of 5.80 million vehicles, with a recovery of economic activity following the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ideas:

Perhaps its a practical approach or a public relations statement meant to not into a price war with GM as maybe Toytoa knows the US car market is big enough and it can get all it wants and needs from the market without acting greedy and or making sure it shows a good attitude toward consumers and GM.

Its very interesing that there are 6 or 8 car manufacturers in Japan and only three left in the US. That might have something to do with the idea of a "live and let live" approach that maybe Japanese businesses use and or the alliances that Toyota and Honda has with the smaller car manufactures that allows them to produce niche cars/vehicles and produce and sell to niche markets, without being in direct competition with Toyota.

Article:

Honda Motor Co. sold 1,466,630 cars and Nissan Motor Co. 977,639 vehicles, up 8.9 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively. The U.S. sales of Mazda Motor Corp. increased 19.2 percent to 332,756 and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. 16.8 percent to 102,037 vehicles.

Subaru Corp., on the other hand, saw a 4.6 percent drop in U.S. sales to 583,810 units.

Ford Motor Co. has yet to announce its annual sales figure for 2021 but trailed Toyota by a wide margin in the January-November period last year.

Ideas:

As Honda and Nissan et.al had increases in sales most likely.had nothing to do with markeing but more that the US car manufacturers were hit harder from the chip challenges as they were farther from the South-East Asia chips manufacturers and the problems related to the shipping challenges in California.

Perhaps Subaru manfacturers the cars it sells in the US and had supply problems like the US car companies.

And or because as its a smaller car manufacturer it didn't have the market power of Toyota or the other car makers and couldn't get the supplies needes as fast as the others could.

Maybe also if Subaru is in an alliance with one of the larger Japanese car makers as the larger car company was having its own challenges it was not able to help Subaru with its supply challenges.

But what is going to happen now and in the future as the omicron situation has exploded in Japan and will it affect manufacturing plants in Japan.

And then as the omicron spreads to other places, like South-East Asia what is going to happen in Q1 and Q2 related to the chips manufacturers in those countries and how much of an effect will it have on the global car industry.

Another article, for later, has questioned the idea of Toyotas "lean manufacturing" meaning as little supplies or stock as only needed and not carrying a lot of supplies for the future.

But now Toyota and others might have to think about a new strategy and stock-pile extra supplies to avoid disruptions in its supply chains and manufacturing.

Have a nice day and be safe!