(Bloomberg) — Many carmakers are happy to close the books on 2021.
From snarled shipping lines to semiconductor shortages, the challenges of the past year left manufacturers struggling to keep up with demand. While industrywide sales likely rose modestly from 2020, supply constraints shattered any hope of a quick bounce-back from the early pandemic slump.
Carmakers likely sold a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 12.5 million new vehicles in December, down 23% from a year earlier, according to the average forecast of six market researchers surveyed by Bloomberg.
The extent of the issues will become more clear Tuesday as most major automakers, including General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Stellantis NV, report U.S. sales for the fourth quarter and full year. Ford Motor Co. is expected to release its figures Wednesday.
Read more: No end in sight for auto sales slump on chip constraints
For the full year, auto sales likely came to 14.9 million vehicles, a 2.5% jump from the coronavirus-stricken days of 2020, according to Cox Automotive.
The year wasn’t without its bright spots. The inventory challenges helped push some buyers to more-profitable, option-laden models, while the mainstream embrace of electric vehicles accelerated. Indeed, Tesla Inc. on Sunday blew past Wall Street’s expectations with a record for quarterly global deliveries.
Other automakers will be hard-pressed to match that kind of performance. We’ll take a look at the results as the major manufacturers report throughout the day.
Hyundai’s Cheap Chic
Hyundai Motor Co.’s namesake brand was one of the big winners last year, logging a 19% increase in sales from a year earlier. The Korean automaker did lose some steam in the waning months of 2021, however, with a 15% drop in fourth-quarter deliveries to 152,446 vehicles. For the month of December alone, its sales fell 23%.
U.S. retail sales were the company’s highest ever, buoyed by demand for the budget-friendly Venue subcompact crossover model, which starts at less than $20,000, as well as for the Kona subcompact sport utility vehicle and Tucson compact SUV.
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