General Motors Co. and its dealers delivered 2.2 million vehicles in 2021, with Chevrolet and GMC cementing the company’s eighth consecutive year of combined full-size and midsize pickup sales leadership, second consecutive year as the full-size pickup sales leader, and its 21st consecutive year as the market leader in full-size SUVs, according to a company release.
GM’s commercial truck business registered gains in key areas, including Chevrolet Silverado Medium Duty sales, which were up 39%. GM’s total sales were down about 13% year over year because of semiconductor supply chain issues.
“All year we focused on delivering as many of our high demand, capacity-constrained products as possible and the strategy worked,” said Steve Carlisle, GM executive vice president and president, GM North America. “Our dealers and our engineering, supply chain, manufacturing and brand teams moved mountains to satisfy as many customers as possible in 2021, despite record low inventories caused by semiconductor supply chain issues during the third and fourth quarters.”
Chevrolet and GMC will stay on offense in the full-size pickup market in 2022 with new designs, the rollout of Super Cruise and more capacity, highlighted by the following:
GM Canada re-opened its Oshawa Assembly plant and began building Chevrolet Silverado HD pickups in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Mid-year will see the arrival of the new 2022 Chevrolet Silverado LD and GMC Sierra LD. The redesigned pickups will feature new interiors, will generate lower greenhouse gas emissions, add new off-road and luxury packages, and include the addition of Super Cruise as an option for the first time.
Both brands are preparing all-electric pickups, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, which were revealed virtually on Jan. 5, during the Consumer Electronics Show.
“In 2022, we plan to take advantage of the strong economy and anticipated improved semiconductor supplies to grow our sales and share. We will also further strengthen our industry leadership in trucks and begin our drive to EV leadership in North America with the rollouts of the GMC HUMMER EV, Cadillac LYRIQ and the reveals of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV,” Carlisle said.
GM expects economic growth in the U.S. and improving semiconductor availability to help drive U.S. total light industry sales from around 15 million in 2021 to around 16 million in 2022.
Some truck-specific highlights GM shared in its release included:
Combined sales of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra LD and HD were 768,689. The company’s share of the retail market in 2021 was approximately 39%, according to J.D. Power PIN estimates and about 10 points higher than the next closest competitor.
GM has led the industry in retail sales in the full-size pickup segment every year since 2003, according to J.D. Power PIN estimates.
Commercial fleet sales of full-size pickups increased 10%, while Medium Duty trucks were up 30%. Commercial sales of GM full-size SUVs (up 59%) and midsize pickups (up 37%) also increased significantly.
Sales of GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban were up a combined 26% to more than 238,000 vehicles.
GM and its dealers sold 440,745 vehicles in the fourth quarter, down 43% compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, which was GM’s best quarter for retail sales since 2007.
GM entered the quarter with record low inventories; however, the company’s fourth-quarter production and wholesale deliveries were up significantly from the third quarter as semiconductor supply conditions improved. Dealer inventory, including in-transit units on their way to dealers, was 128,757 units at the end of the third quarter and 199,662 at the end of the fourth quarter.
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