General Motors Reclaims Its Title as the Top-Selling Carmaker in the US From Toyota

GM reclaimed its status from Toyota as the largest automaker in the U.S. by sales volume in 2022 after supply chain woes weighed on Asian carmakers more than Detroit giants.

General Motors has reclaimed its status from Toyota as the largest automaker in the U.S. by sales volume after supply chain woes weighed on Asian carmakers more than Detroit giants in 2022.

GM said today (Jan. 4) it sold about 2.27 million vehicles last year, up 2.5 percent from the previous year. Toyota, which also reported delivery numbers today, sold just over 2.1 million vehicles in 2022, representing a 9.6 percent decline from 2021.

GM shares ticked up 2.5 percent today while Toyota shares fell 1 percent.

GM was the top-selling automaker annually in the U.S. from 1931 until Toyota claimed the spot in 2021, according to data compiled by Cox Automotive, a consulting firm. But the Japanese auto giant was badly impacted by a persistent chip shortage and surging material costs, which forced it to cut last year’s production target as late as November.

Similar factors affected other major automakers, especially in the first half of 2022, keeping cars and trucks short in supply and prices elevated. Korea’s Hyundai Motor saw its U.S. sales volume drop 2 percent to about 724,000 in 2022, today’s data show.

Overall, automobile sales in the U.S. last year are expected have fallen 8 percent from 2021 and 20 percent from the peak in 2016 to about 13.9 million units, according to Cox Automotive. The exact figure will be known when more carmakers release 2022 delivery numbers.

Globally, Toyota is still the largest carmaker by sales volume, followed by Volkswagen Group and Hyundai. GM ranks fourth. By market cap, though, none of them compares to Tesla, which is worth $350 billion even after a 70 percent drop in stock price last year. Toyota is currently valued at $220 billion and GM at about $50 billion.