automotive industry
US car market weakens in 2022 – outlook remains cautious
Intractable supply chain issues and shortages of key components like computer chips slowed the US auto market last year. According to analysis house Wards Intelligence, sales across the industry fell by eight percent to 13.7 million cars.
The heavyweight US carmaker Ford announced a drop in sales of around two percent to around 1.86 million new vehicles for 2022. (archive image)
It thus reached its lowest value since 2011. Things are likely to pick up again in the new year, but the outlook remains cautious. Wards expects 14.9 million new cars to be sold. That would leave the market well below the pre-pandemic mark of at least 17 million.
Volkswagen’s sales fell by 19.7 percent to 301,069 new vehicles in 2022 compared to the previous year, as the manufacturer announced on Thursday. In the fourth quarter, the company sold 22,303 cars with the VW logo to US customers – a drop of 20.5 percent compared to the same period last year. One bright spot was the ID.4 electric model. Here sales increased by 171 percent in the final quarter. However, the e-car does not yet contribute much to the volume – VW sold 20,511 units in the year as a whole.
The US heavyweight Ford announced a drop in sales of around two percent to around 1.86 million new vehicles for 2022. One of the few winners from the poor year was General Motors (GM). Contrary to the negative market trend, the largest US car manufacturer increased its sales slightly and replaced its rival Toyota as the manufacturer with the highest sales. According to its own statements, GM brought 2.27 million new cars to US customers on Wednesday, an increase of three percent compared to the previous year. Heavy SUVs and pick-up trucks in particular remained in demand.
In 2021, the Japanese were just a step ahead – GM lost market leadership in the USA for the first time since 1931. The US car giant has now managed to achieve a strong end of the year. In the fourth quarter, sales increased 41 percent year-on-year. The main problem in the industry last year was not that inflation discouraged US customers from buying – thanks to higher prices, most manufacturers continued to earn well. In view of the chip shortage and other supply bottlenecks, sales suffered from the fact that demand could not be properly served.
Other German car manufacturers also felt the effects. The VW subsidiary Audi delivered 186,875 vehicles, five percent less than in the previous year, as announced on Wednesday. Audi increased sales in the fourth quarter by 63 percent. Full-size rival BMW posted a 1.3 percent drop in its parent brand to 332,388 cars in 2022, although sales rose 9.4 percent in the final quarter. At the subsidiary Mini, US sales for the year as a whole fell by 1.4 percent to 29,504 new cars. The figures from Porsche and Mercedes-Benz were still pending.
(SDA)