Lower output: EVs are seen on an assembly line at a GM factory in Michigan. The firm had targeted 150,000 deliveries last year but actually sold just under 76,000 EVs. — AFP
NEW YORK: General Motors Co (GM) and several other automakers reported slowing US sales growth toward the end of last year while rival Toyota Motor Corp’s volume remained strong, as near-record sticker prices and high interest rates led to uneven impacts across the auto market.
GM’s deliveries ticked up less than 1% in the fourth quarter, the company said, as the automaker recovered from United Auto Workers strikes at four assembly plants in the period.
Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co saw more sluggish growth at the end of the year, while South Korean carmaker Kia America’s sales dipped in December.
Pent-up demand that propped up sales in the wake of the pandemic has been sated, and some shoppers are now balking at 10% interest rates on car loans and average prices around US$48,000.
Overall sales likely slipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 15.4 million vehicles in the final month of 2023, down from about 15.5 million in the prior two quarters, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
“We’ve seen a big reduction in median- and lower-income households” buying new cars, which now “almost exclusively go to the top 20% of income households,” Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for researcher Cox Automotive, said in an interview.
Still, there were pockets of resilience. Toyota’s deliveries rose more than 15% in the last three months of 2023, powered by growth from hybrid-electric vehicles. And South Korea’s Hyundai brand sales gained 5% in the period, marking a record, it said.
Toyota’s big gains came from its compact Corolla hybrid sedan, which more than doubled, and RAV4 small sport-utility vehicle (SUV), which rose 37% in the fourth quarter.
The automaker attributed the strong showing to increased availability of product in the second half of the year as supply-chain and logistical woes eased, and from product launches such as the Grand Highlander mid-size SUV.
“We hit our stride in the fourth quarter. We were able to get more of our new product out to the dealerships,” David Christ, head of the Toyota brand in the United States, said in an interview.
For Hyundai Motor Co’s eponymous brand, it was a gas guzzler and an electric vehicle (EV) that grew the most in sales, with deliveries of the large Palisade SUV and Ioniq 5 EV nearly doubling in the quarter.
GM’s sales rose just 0.3% in the quarter, with strikes at four plants cutting production of its top-selling Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs and high-volume Chevy Colorado pickups, among other models.
The company finished the year with a strong December as inventory was replenished, a spokesman said. Despite the strike, GM’s sales rose 14% for the year.
The Detroit automaker continues to struggle with EV output. GM had targeted 150,000 deliveries last year but actually sold just under 76,000 EVs, with most of the volume coming from its Chevy Bolt compact plug-in – a model GM is discontinuing in its present form.
Production issues have plagued the launch of vehicles made with the company’s Ultium battery.
Nissan’s 5.6% sales gain in the quarter marked a sharp slowdown from its full-year performance, which was up 23%. Deliveries of its Sentra compact sedan rose about 42% in both the final three months and for the year.
Overall sales decelerated at the start of the quarter and then picked up in December, Judy Wheeler, vice-president of Nissan brand sales, said. — Bloomberg
