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Full-year U.S. auto sales are forecast to be about 13.9 million
units, down 8% from 2021 and 20% from the peak in 2016,
according to industry consultant Cox Automotive.
Inventory shortages, caused by surging material costs and
persistent chip shortage, spilled into 2022, hobbling production
at many automakers. Tight supplies kept car and truck prices
elevated, even as auto inventory improved in the second half of
the year.
Toyota Motor Corp has been among those hit acutely by parts
shortages, which forced the Japanese company to cut its
full-year production target in November.
The cutback will lead to the company ceding its spot as the
top-selling U.S. automaker in 2022 to GM, which gave up that
position at the end of 2021 for the first time since 1931,
according to Cox Automotive and automotive marketplace TrueCar.
GM's 2022 U.S. sales are set to rise 2.3%, while Toyota's is
expected to fall 9%, according to Cox Automotive. Both
automakers are set to report sales figures on Wednesday.
Some industry observers fret that price hikes by automakers to
blunt inflationary pressures and rising interest rates will take
a toll on new vehicle sales in the new year.
"We expect 2023 to carry a high level of risk and uncertainty as
several markets could be dealing with a recession," said Jeff
Schuster, president of global forecasts at LMC Automotive.
Automakers will need to begin incentivising buyers, a trend that
was briefly paused during the pandemic as manufacturers and
dealers struggled to fulfill demand, TrueCar said.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair and Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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