NEW YORK – Toyota is about to become the leader in US auto sales for the first time, taking away a title that General Motors has held for nearly a century.
It’s yet another sign that US automakers have lost their dominance in their home market.
As recently as 2005, Toyota was No. 4 in US sales, with GM, Ford and what was then known as DaimlerChrysler all in front, with a combined 57 percent of US sales between them. But in 2021, GM, Ford and Stellantis — the European automaker that owns Chrysler — had only 38% of the US market between them in the first nine months of the year. Even adding in Tesla only gets the US automakers to just over 40 percent of sales.
Both Toyota and GM are set to report year-end sales Tuesday. GM’s sales have trailed Toyota’s over the course of the first nine months, and its fourth-quarter results are expected to be behind Toyota’s, too. Both companies are forecast to report sharp drops in sales last quarter.
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