Basic Motors, pushed by robust light-truck deliveries, reported a 42 p.c improve in fourth quarter light-vehicle quantity, with gross sales rising 44 p.c at Chevrolet, 42 p.c at GMC and 75 p.c Cadillac. Buick was the one GM model to publish decrease quantity within the remaining quarter of 2022, down 6.5 p.c, extending the model’s declines to 6 consecutive quarters.
GM additionally reclaimed the title of top-selling automaker within the U.S. in 2022 by practically 150,000 items after Toyota Motor grabbed the crown in 2021. GM, the market’s longtime chief till 2021, reported U.S. deliveries of two.258 million final yr, up 2.5 p.c, whereas Toyota Motor gross sales tallied 2.1 million, down 9.6 p.c.
GM stated U.S. vendor inventories proceed to rebound and have greater than doubled over the past 12 months, ending December at 410, 682 items, together with vehicles and light-weight vehicles in transit, up from 359,292 on the shut of the third quarter and 199,662 on the finish of 2021.
December deliveries rose 3.5 p.c at Toyota Motor, with a 6.6 p.c rise on the Toyota division offsetting a 16 p.c decline at Lexus. Each manufacturers proceed to be hampered by a number of the trade’s lowest stock ranges, with Lexus gross sales now dropping 11 straight months. Toyota, the main model within the U.S. since April, misplaced the title in December to Ford by some 10,000 items.
At Ford Motor Co., December quantity elevated 3.3 p.c behind positive aspects of two.7 p.c on the Ford division and 17 p.c at Lincoln. The No. 3 automaker within the U.S. completed 2022 with gross sales of 1.86 million, down 2.2 p.c.
Ford stated U.S. gross sales of the F-Sequence truck tallied 653,957 in 2022, making it America’s best-selling truck for 46 consecutive years and the best-selling automobile for 41 years straight.
The corporate stated it completed 2022 with gross stock of 398,000 vehicles and light-weight vehicles, or a 60-day provide, with 45 p.c of it in transit, up from 372,000 items on the shut of November and 247,000 on the finish of 2021.
Stellantis stated fourth-quarter quantity skidded 16 p.c behind a drop of 18 p.c at Jeep, 39 p.c at Chrysler and 15 p.c at Ram. Solely Dodge posted a gross sales acquire, 15 p.c, within the remaining quarter.
Quantity additionally declined 25 p.c or extra at two of the corporate’s smaller manufacturers: Fiat and Alfa Romeo. Gross sales at Jeep and Ram, FCA’s greatest manufacturers, have now dropped six consecutive quarters. Stellantis’ total U.S. deliveries dropped 13 p.c in 2022.
Jeff Kommor, head of U.S. gross sales for Stellantis’ FCA US unit, cited “manufacturing constraints and a disruption of components and supplies generally,” in addition to “market situations that carried throughout 2021 into 2022,” for negatively impacting the corporate’s outcomes.
Honda Motor Co., nonetheless struggling to safe chips for key fashions to rebuild depleted stockpiles, stated December gross sales dropped 11 p.c, with the Honda division down 11 p.c and Acura off 5.5 p.c. The corporate’s 2022 gross sales skidded 33 p.c, the steepest decline amongst main automakers final yr. The corporate stated it’s beginning 2023 with about 44,000 new autos in vendor stock and has suggested sellers that stockpiles will not return to regular ranges untill fall 2023 on the earliest.
“Like the remainder of the trade, we aren’t out of the woods but with provide points,” stated Mamadou Diallo, vice chairman of auto gross sales for American Honda Motor Co. “However we start 2023 with roughly double the on-hand stock of 2022 and the expectation that this can imply a wholesome gross sales improve this yr.”
Nissan Group’s fourth-quarter U.S. gross sales dropped 2 p.c to 191,012, with the Nissan model off 3.6 p.c, its sixth straight quarterly decline, whereas Infiniti deliveries rose 24 p.c.
Quantity jumped 40 p.c final month to a December document of 72,058 at Hyundai Motor America, pushed by a 27 p.c rise in retail deliveries. Hyundai stated it was its fifth straight month of document retail gross sales, with utility autos accounting for 74 p.c of retail quantity.