纽约（美国有线电视新闻网）丰田首次成为美国汽车销量的领导者，夺走了通用汽车近一个世纪以来一直保持的头衔。
这是美国汽车制造商在本土市场失去主导地位的又一个迹象。
就在 2005 年，丰田在美国的销量中排名第四，通用汽车、福特和当时被称为戴姆勒克莱斯勒的公司都排在前面，它们之间的总销量占美国销量的 57%。但到 2021 年，通用汽车、福特和拥有克莱斯勒的欧洲汽车制造商 Stellantis 在今年前九个月的美国市场份额仅为 38%。即使加入特斯拉，美国汽车制造商的销售额也只会超过 40%。
丰田和通用汽车都在周二公布了年终销量。通用汽车 (GM) 公布的美国全年销量为 220 万辆，剩下 114,000 辆，比丰田 (TM) 落后 5%。
通用汽车第二季度的销量略低于丰田，第三季度的销量也远远落后于丰田。与 2020 年最后三个月相比，丰田第四季度的销量下降了 30%，但通用汽车的销量下降了 43%，这让丰田得以巩固领先地位。
计算机芯片的短缺限制了生产和车辆的供应，是导致年底销量暴跌的原因。 Cox Automotive 的数据显示，本季度美国全行业的销售额预计将下降 24%。大多数汽车制造商将于周二公布美国销量，福特将于周三公布销量。
专家表示，丰田能否在未来几年保持美国销量领先尚不确定。
“我不认为丰田一定会保持这种领先地位，”埃德蒙兹行业洞察执行董事杰西卡考德威尔说。 “这些年来，通用汽车并不是在做一些神奇的事情。他们只是有更多的销售渠道和更多的品牌。”
通用汽车表示，预计很快就会重新处于领先地位。
该公司表示：“除其他外，半导体短缺在 2021 年造成了前所未有的情况。” “即便如此，通用汽车仍扩大了其在全尺寸皮卡和 SUV 方面的领先地位。2022 年开始时供应链将逐步改善，随着我们推出几款新车——包括电动汽车和重新设计的皮卡，这应该会导致 2022 年的增长。”
芯片短缺
计算机芯片的短缺导致两家汽车制造商在许多工厂放慢或暂时停止生产。这切断了经销商的库存，并将汽车价格推高至创纪录水平。
2022 年芯片供应持续紧张可能会迫使汽车制造商和行业其他大部分企业生产的汽车数量少于满足需求所需的数量。
Cox Automotive 的高级分析师米歇尔·克雷布斯 (Michelle Krebs) 表示：“芯片仍然是今年的外卡。”
克雷布斯表示，通用汽车前几年的部分销售优势在于，它以车队销售的形式向租赁汽车公司等企业出售了更多汽车，通常以低于消费者支付的零售价的价格出售。但她说，由于汽车供应有限，今年的车队销量几乎消失了。
赛马
克雷布斯说，汽车制造商之间的赛马在业内引起了人们的关注，但购车者的关注度并不高。
“我无法告诉你有多少买家甚至不知道雪佛兰是通用汽车的一部分，或者雷克萨斯是丰田的一部分，”她说。
丰田在 2007 年从通用汽车手中夺走了汽车销量的全球领先地位，几年来，两者在全球销量领先地位上一直在来回走动，最近一次是在 2012 年，丰田超过了通用汽车。现在全球销量的竞争是丰田和丰田之间的竞争。大众汽车。
但 1927 年从福特手中夺得销量第一的通用汽车在其他艰难时期一直能够保持其在美国的销量领先地位。其中包括 2019 年，美国汽车工人联合会的成员以近六周的罢工关闭了通用汽车，以及 2009 年，通用汽车被迫申请破产——暂时或永久关闭许多美国工厂，停产其较弱的品牌并削减更多超过 1,000 家经销商。
考德威尔说，通用汽车的前景似乎比目前的困境更加光明。它押注全电动未来，丰田正在追赶自己的电动汽车计划。
“如果电动汽车和自动驾驶汽车是未来，通用汽车已经做好了准备，”她说。
丰田在美国的五家工厂生产了其在美国销售的 70% 的汽车和卡车，该公司发表声明称，“感谢我们的忠实客户对丰田和雷克萨斯汽车的安全和信任。”它表示，其销售排名从来都不是重点或优先事项。
“公司的重点一直是——并将继续——成为客户心目中安全和质量方面的最佳品牌，”丰田说。
GM was America's largest automaker for nearly a century. It was just dethroned by Toyota
New York (CNN Business)Toyota is the leader in US auto sales for the first time, taking away a title that General Motors had held for nearly a century.
It's yet another sign that US automakers have lost their dominance in their home market.
As recently as 2005, Toyota was No. 4 in US sales, with GM, Ford and what was then known as DaimlerChrysler all in front, with a combined 57% of US sales between them. But in 2021, GM, Ford and Stellantis — the European automaker that owns Chrysler — had only 38% of the US market between them in the first nine months of the year. Even adding in Tesla only gets the US automakers to just over 40% of sales.
Both Toyota and GM reported year-end sales Tuesday. GM (GM) posted full-year US sales of 2.2 million vehicles, which left it 114,000 vehicles, or 5% behind Toyota (TM).
GM fell slightly behind Toyota in second-quarter sales, and it was way behind in the third quarter. Toyota's fourth-quarter sales dropped by 30% compared to the last three months of 2020, but GM's sales plunged 43%, allowing Toyota to pad its lead.
A shortage of computer chips that limited production and the supply of vehicles was responsible for the plunge in sales at the end of the year. Industrywide US sales are forecast to be down 24% in the quarter, according to Cox Automotive. Most automakers will report US sales Tuesday, with Ford set to report its sales on Wednesday.
Whether Toyota is able to keep the US sales lead in future years is uncertain, according to experts.
"I wouldn't expect Toyota to necessarily keep this lead," said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of industry insights at Edmunds. "It's not like GM is doing something magical all these years. They just have more channels to sell in and more brands."
GM suggested it expects to be back in the lead soon.
"The semiconductor shortage, among other things, created an unprecedented set of circumstances in 2021," the company said. "Even so, GM extended its lead in full-size pickups and SUVs. And 2022 begins with a gradually improving supply chain, and that should lead to growth in 2022 as we launch several new vehicles -- including EVs and redesigned pickups."
Chip shortage
A shortage of computer chips led both automakers to slow or temporarily halt production at many factories. That cut off inventory for dealerships and drove car prices to record levels.
A continued tight supply of chips in 2022 could force both automakers, and most of the rest of the industry, to build fewer vehicles than needed to meet demand.
"The chips are still the wild card for this year," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst with Cox Automotive.
Krebs said part of GM's sales advantage in previous years was that it sold more of its car in fleet sales to businesses, such as rental car companies, typically at less than the retail price paid by consumers. But with a limited supply of cars, fleet sales have virtually disappeared this year, she said.
The horse race
The horse race between automakers is something that gets attention in the industry but not much from car buyers, said Krebs.
"I can't tell you how many buyers don't even know Chevy is part of GM or Lexus is part of Toyota," she said.
Toyota took away the global lead in auto sales from GM in 2007, and for a few years the two went back-and-forth on global sales leadership with Toyota passing GM most recently in 2012. Now the race for global sales is between Toyota and Volkswagen.
But GM, which took the top sales title from Ford back in 1927, has been able to maintain its US sales lead all the way through other tough periods. Those include 2019, when members of the United Auto Workers union shut down GM with a nearly six-week strike, and 2009, when GM was forced to file for bankruptcy — temporarily or permanently closing many US plants, discontinuing its weaker brands and shedding more than 1,000 dealerships.
The outlook for GM appears brighter than its current woes, Caldwell said. It is betting big on an all-electric future, and Toyota is playing catch-up with its own EV plans.
"If EVs and autonomous vehicles are the future, GM is setting themselves up quite well," she said.
Toyota, which builds 70% of the cars and trucks that it sells in the United States at five US plants, issued a statement saying it is "grateful to our loyal customers for putting their safety and trust in Toyota and Lexus vehicles." It said its sales ranking has never been a focus or priority.
"The company's focus has always been — and will continue to be — on being the best brand in terms of safety and quality in customers' minds," said Toyota.
