2021 was a miserable enough year, but apparently, it has coattails. As last year’s auto sales numbers come in, a sad new reality has come to light: America’s best-selling carmaker is no longer an American company.
Japanese automaker Toyota sold more cars in the United States than any other manufacturer, edging historical bestseller General Motors out of the top spot. This marks the first time since 1931 that GM isn’t the top-selling automaker in the states. Before them, Ford was number one.
This marks the first time in history that the top-selling carmaker in the United States is a foreign company.
Toyota has been at the top of global sales for a decade, partly because General Motors began ceding foreign markets during the Obama years. This followed the Obama administration’s takeover of GM in 2009, under the guise of rescuing it from bankruptcy and saving American jobs, earning the carmaker the derisive nickname “Government Motors.” The once-proud iconic American manufacturer has never been the same since.
Toyota’s victory over GM caps a year when the American carmaker’s sales shrank 12.9% as it sold 2.2 million vehicles in the United States. By contrast, Toyota’s sales increased 10.4% in 2021 compared to 2020, as it sold 2.3 million cars to Americans.
Analysts believe Toyota was able to sell 114,034 more cars in the states than did General Motors because the domestic company had supply chain issues. Gearhead site The Truth About Cars says that GM “claimed its numbers were down due to the global semiconductor shortage that continues to disproportionally impact American automakers. While there are a few sound logistical reasons for that, the chip deficit also becomes a convenient excuse for brands that cannot seem to get their general supply chains under control. No matter how you slice it, GM looks to have screwed up managing inventory and Toyota is picking up the slack.”
Anyone who tried to buy a car last year — new or used — ran up against the car shortage that continues to plague Joe Biden’s America, and which certainly created a market opportunity for foreign carmakers who had their act together.
Related: Biden Is Bullying Businesses Over His Own Policy Failures
Will Toyota hold onto the top spot in 2022? “Thanks to our phenomenal dealers and world-class purchasing and manufacturing teams, our inventory continues to improve and we’re preparing to introduce 21 all-new, refreshed or special edition vehicles in 2022,” said Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) senior vice president Jack Hollis in a statement on the company’s website, which announced their 4th quarter sales numbers. However, when reporters asked Hollis for a comment specific to TMNA’s sales supremacy in 2021, he downplayed the milestone. “Yes, we did surpass General Motors in sales,” Hollis said on a Jan. 4 call. “But, to be clear, that is not our goal, nor do we see it as sustainable.”
For their part, GM seemed more optimistic about their prospects. “In 2022, we plan to take advantage of the strong economy and anticipated improved semiconductor supplies to grow our sales and share,” said GM North America President Steve Carlisle in a Jan. 4 press release.
The globalist-socialist in the White House has demonstrated repeatedly that he doesn’t value American sovereignty, either in border security, citizenship, or heritage. Handicapping U.S. manufacturers with crappy socialist policies and the failures they predictably cause, thus handing over domestic commerce supremacy to foreign corporate giants, fits in neatly with the legacy his disastrous term in office will leave us.
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