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GM might lose 90-year U.S. sales crown over chip shortage

Automotive News editor Nick Bunkley tweeted on October 1 that according to AutoNews data, General Motors "has been the largest seller of vehicles in the U.S. every year since passing Ford in 1931." With automakers having turned in light car and truck sales data for the first three quarters of 2021, GM's 90-year-run might not reach 91. According to AN figures, Toyota was 80,401 vehicles ahead when the October workday started. Worse, GM is so far behind its historic pace that it might only sell enough light vehicles in the U.S. to match its numbers from 1958.  Meanwhile, the New York Times put a few more salient numbers to the pain GM and Toyota are enduring alongside the the rest of the industry. GM sold 33% fewer cars in Q3 2021 than it did in Q3 2019 during the dark days of the pandemic, 446,997 units this year as opposed to 665,192 last year. GM's Q3 2020 was only down 13% on Q3 2019. Over at Toyota, the bottom line showed a 1% gain in Q3 2021 compared to 2020, with 566,005 units moved off dealer lots. The finer numbers show two steps forward and one step back, though; Toyota's September sales were down 22% compared to last year.  GM remains optimistic about what's ahead, GM's president of North American operations telling the NYT, "We look forward to a more stable operating environment through the fall." We'd like to see that happen, but we don't know how it happens. The chip shortage said to have been the inciting incident for the current woes isn't over, and not only can no one agree when it will be over, the automakers, chip producers, and U.S. government still can't get on the same page about who needs what and when. Looking away from that for a second shows articles about "No End In Sight" for supply chain disruptions in early September, before China had to start working through power supply constraints, global supply chain workers started warning of a "system collapse," and roughly 500,000 containers sat waiting to be unloaded at Southern California ports — a record number seemingly broken every week. And back to chips, we're told just a few days ago the chip shortage is "worse than we thought."   For now, the NYT wrote that GM dealer inventory is down 40% from June to roughly 129,000 vehicles, and down 84% from the days when dealers would cumulatively keep about 800,000 light vehicles in stock. However, GM just announced it would have almost all of its U.S. facilities back online next week, although some would run at partial capacity.

GM takes 2020 full-size pickup sales crown

It's no secret that 2020 was an unconventional year for auto sales. Extenuating circumstances or not, it was a year of upheaval even for ever-resilient (and ever-profitable) pickups, with General Motors taking the crown from Ford in the full-size segment.  The Ford F-Series still outsold every other full-size pickup nameplate in the country by a significant margin. It's only when you combine GM's Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra variants that you get a number that exceeds Ford's. This isn't really a new phenomenon, either. In fact, it was only somewhat recently that Ford took the overall full-size crown away from GM, and not only did Ford widen the gap in recent years, but Ram has once again become a legitimate challenger, even managing to outsell the Silverado by a healthy margin in 2019, but never coming close to the F-Series in terms of total volume.  But, 2020 being 2020, things got weird yet again. Ram remains relevant, of course, but Ford got caught with its pants down thanks to the one-two punch of COVID and the generational changeover of the core F-150 model, which resulted in a production interruption as the company's assembly facilities transitioned from building the old 2020 model to the new-for-2021. This perfect storm, as it turns out, was sufficient for GM to walk away with the full-size crown. See for yourself: Full-size 2020 pickup sales: GM total: 847,110 F-Series: 787,422 Silverado: 594,094 Ram: 563,676 Sierra: 253,016 Tundra: 109,203 Titan: 26,439 As you can see, Ram slipped back behind Silverado, slotting comfortably into third place. The Silverado 1500 had a flat year, but the heavy- and medium-duty variants bucked the trend and contributed to a slight uptick in sales for the nameplate, while F-Series tumbled more than 12% (nearly 110,000 units), opening the door for GM to steam ahead.  There were similarly significant shakeups in the midsize truck segment. First, 2020 was the first full year of retail sales for the Gladiator pickup, which surged to fourth place behind the stalwart Tacoma, Ranger and Colorado. GM's combined sales of the Colorado and Canyon are good enough for second place by manufacturer, but nowhere close to what it would take to dethrone Toyota.

2021 GMC Yukon Denali adds another extra-luxe accessories bundle

For the 2018 GMC Yukon Denali, GMC added a Denali Ultimate Package that combined every option already available with some 22-inch Midnight Silver rims. In 2020, GMC expanded build options for the Terrain with a Denali Premium Package, lumping together a couple of a la carte packages as an exclusive mix of features. The 2020 Yukon Denali configurator includes a lightweight Denali Premium Package, too, but for 2021 GM Authority reports the top-tier choices will expand to include an entry-level Denali Deluxe Package along with the Denali Premium and Ultimate options. The Deluxe Package checks the boxes for the Advanced Technology Package, Advanced Security Package, and the Rear Seat Media System. The long list of tech roped in with that trio includes adaptive cruise control, enhanced automatic emergency braking, rear camera mirror and washer, interior movement sensors, glass break sensors, dual 12.6-inch rear seat-mounted screens, two HDMI ports, and wireless projection capability. The exterior showpiece is a quartet of 22-inch bright machined aluminum wheels with premium paint, affixed with wheel locks. Go with those rims and the Denali Deluxe Package costs $5,750, opting for a different set of wheels can drop the price to $3,775. On top of that, choosing the right combination of options to go with the Deluxe Package can lower the price another $500. The Denali Premium Package includes almost everything above, only omitting the Rear Seat Media Package. In place of the screens for back-seaters, the bundle installs a powered panoramic sunroof and power-retractable assist steps with perimeter lighting. Purchased with the 22-inch wheels, this assortment runs $7,000, or $5,025 with a different set of wheels. Here again, the right combination of additional packages can save $500. The Denali Ultimate Package combines everything in the bundles above, plus the Max Trailering Package that gets GMC's ProGrade Trailering System and high-capacity engine cooling. The price is $10,460 on a rear-wheel drive Yukon Denali, $11,255 on the four-wheel drive models. Choosing a different wheel only saves $1,000 in this case, and there's no extra discount available. The 2021 Yukon is expected to enter production next month at GM's Arlington Plant in Texas, Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.