Toyota, GM sales fall on chip shortage, supply chain snags

Toyota and General Motors reported a slump in first-quarter U.S. sales on Friday, as industry-wide disruptions to supply chains and chip shortages squeezed inventories.

Toyota, which in 2021 upstaged GM's decades-old position as the top-selling automaker in the United States, outsold the company in the first quarter on increased demand for its Lexus hybrid and electric vehicles.

Automakers are grappling with a global chip shortage that has forced them to cut production, although high car prices have partially offset the impact from tight inventory.

"Supply chain disruptions are not fully behind us, but we expect to continue outperforming 2021 production levels, especially in the second half of the year," said Steve Carlisle, executive vice president and president, GM North America.

Supply bottlenecks started to ease in recent months, but the progress was stalled by Russia's war against Ukraine as well as new lockdowns in China following a resurgence in COVID-19 infections.

"Inventory will take time to build because a large number of vehicles that are coming in now are already sold to someone. So unfortunately we are likely going to have soft numbers for at least a few more months," Morningstar analyst David Whiston said.

Results by automaker:

— GM said quarterly sales fell 20.1% to 512,846 vehicles, sending its shares down 1.04% at $43.28 in the morning trade. The automaker said that improved semiconductor supplies helped production in the quarter, but it expects inventory to remain relatively low throughout the year due to high demand.

— Toyota said sales fell nearly 15% to 514,592 vehicles.

— BMW was one of the quarter's few winners, reporting overall sales up 3.2% in the first quarter, compared to Q1 2021. X-model SUVs constituted 57% of sales. And sales of Minis were up 9.4%.

— Mazda reported March sales of 33,023 vehicles, up 3.2% compared to March 2021. Year-to-date sales totaled 82,268 vehicles — down 1.2%.

— Nissan reported first-quarter sales of 201,081 vehicles, down 29.6%. Leaf, Altima and Frontier all saw big sales increases.

— Subaru sales fell 17.5% in the first quarter, at 132,346 vehicles. Subaru cited supply chain shortages as the cause.

— Porsche sales fell 24.9%, at 13,042, and the company also cited supply and delivery issues. It noted that it was coming off 2021, the strongest year for U.S. sales in brand history.

— Mitsubishi focused on retail sales alone in its report, which were up 44.7%. Though its total sales figures were down 6.5%, from 28,231 vehicles in the first quarter last year, to 26,400 in Q1 2022. Outlander saw a 218% increase, and Eclipse Cross was up 152%.

— Tesla delivered 310,048 vehicles in the quarter, a slight increase from the previous quarter, and up 68% from a year earlier. Tesla said it sold a total of 295,324 Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport utility vehicles, while it delivered 14,724 Model S luxury sedans and Model X premium SUVs.