December U.S. auto sales: Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia slide again; GM skids 43% in Q4

Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Hyundai and Kia posted lower U.S. sales in December for the fifth straight month, with tight inventories stemming from supply chain disruptions dealing a final blow as the auto industry was expected to close out 2021 on a down note.

General Motors, reported a 43 percent decline in fourth-quarter sales, with volume off 45 percent at Chevrolet, 38 percent at GMC, 35 percent at Buick and 48 percent at Cadillac. Nissan Motor Co.’s fourth-quarter deliveries dropped 20 percent, with the Nissan division down 17 percent and Infiniti off 47 percent.

Toyota Motor, even with double-digit volume declines in recent months, surpassed GM, the market leader for decades dating to the Great Depression, in U.S. sales by nearly 130,000 units in 2021. 

Toyota Motor’s volume slid 30 percent last month, it’s biggest decline of 2021, with sales down 29 percent at the Toyota division and 37 percent at Lexus. The Toyota division’s car sales tumbled 37 percent while crossover and SUV volume dropped 21 percent and pickup truck deliveries skidded 26 percent.

Toyota said it ended December with a 20-day supply of vehicles, or 125,423 cars and light trucks in stock, most of which — 106,296 units — is in ports or in transit.

Honda’s December volume dropped 23 percent behind a decline of 22 percent at the Honda division and 29 percent at Acura; 2021 volume rose 8.9 percent to 1.466 million.

At Hyundai, volume slid 23 percent last month, its biggest drop of the year, with retail deliveries off 11 percent.

The company said dealer stockpiles stood at 21,420 cars and light trucks at the end of December, up from Nov.’s tally of 17,096 but down sharply from 143,741 in December 2020. The company’s 2021 sales increased 19 percent to 738,081, with record retail volume of 694,349.

Sales last month fell 9.8 percent at Kia, it’s biggest drop of the final stretch of 2021, but the company still set a U.S. sales record of 701,416 for the year on strong first-half volume.

Sales fell for the seventh straight month at Subaru, down 20 percent in December, and for the fourth straight period at Mazda, off 38 percent last month.

Genesis’ December volume increased 61 percent to 4,999, with 2021 deliveries rising 203 percent to a record 49,621.

Most other automakers are scheduled to release December and fourth-quarter sales later Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co. and Volvo will release December results on Wednesday, followed by Volkswagen brand and Mercedes-Benz on Friday and Jaguar Land Rover later in the month.