Automakers on Jan. 4 began releasing new-vehicle sales figures, showing a strong year-over-year increase across the board in December sales, but, for some, a drop for the entire year compared to 2021.
GM
General Motors reported a sales gain for the fourth quarter and all of 2022 in what has been a turbulent year as parts shortages kept inventory levels low, hobbling new car sales in the first half only to recover later in the year to help the automaker hang onto its U.S. sales crown.
GM said its fourth-quarter U.S. sales, when compared with the year-ago period, were up 41% to 623,261 new vehicles sold. For the full year, GM's new vehicle sales in the U.S. rose 3% to 2,274,088 new cars sold compared with 2021. A large part of those gains came on replenishing inventory of pickups and SUVs, which are GM's big sellers and profit-makers. GM said it sold a total of 1.1 million full-size pickups, midsize pickups and full-size SUVs for the year.
To read more, see the Detroit Free Press.
Mazda
Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) reported total December sales of 27,292 vehicles, an increase of 40.5% compared to December 2021. Full-year sales totaled 294,908 vehicles, a decrease of 11.4% compared to 2021. With 27 selling days in December, compared to the same the year prior, the company posted an increase of 40.5% on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis.
CPO sales totaled 5,080 vehicles in December, an increase of 33% compared to December 2021.
Toyota
Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) reported year-end 2022 U.S. sales of 2,108,458 vehicles, a decrease of 9.6% on a volume basis and a decrease of 9.9 percent on a daily selling rate (DSR) basis compared to 2021.
The company reported U.S. fourth quarter 2022 sales of 536,740 vehicles, an increase of 13.1% on a volume basis and DSR basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.
U.S. December 2022 sales totaled 180,147 vehicles, an increase of 3.5% on a volume basis and DSR basis compared to December 2021.
Hyundai
Hyundai Motor America reported total December sales of 72,058 units, a 40% increase compared to December 2021 and the highest December sales in Hyundai history. Retail sales were up 27% in December, marking the fifth consecutive month of record-setting retail sales. SUVs were 74% of retail sales with more than 47,800 units sold.
December saw the best-ever retail and total sales for Venue, Elantra HEV, Elantra N, IONIQ 5, Santa Fe HEV, Tucson HEV, Santa Cruz, Kona EV and Kona N. Eco-friendly vehicle retail sales grew 72% compared with December 2021.
In Q4, Hyundai sold 195,967 units, a Q4 total sales record, and an increase of 29% compared with Q4 2021. Eco-friendly vehicle retail sales for Q4 grew 40% compared with Q4 2021. Growth in eco-friendly total sales were headlined by Elantra HEV (+431%), Santa Fe HEV (+85%), Tucson HEV (+38%), IONIQ 5 (+2835%) and KONA EV (+35%).
For the year, Hyundai sold 724,265 units, a slight 2% decrease compared with 2021. Hyundai outperformed the industry with forecasts predicting a drop of 8.4% in total sales when adjusted for selling days. Due to strong consumer demand, Hyundai established a new annual retail sales record with 708,217 units sold, a 2% increase over the previous high set in 2021. During the year, Hyundai fleet sales were among the lowest in the industry at 2.2% of total volume.
Kia
Kia America, which celebrated its 30th year in business in October, announced best-ever December sales of 60,422 units, an increase of 11.2% over the previous December record set in 2016 and up 25% year-over-year. With the close of 2022 sales, Kia also marked its best-ever fourth quarter performance, which pushed the brand's annual retail sales volume to 654,554, an increase of 1.7% compared to previous retail record in 2021.
Sales of Kia's SUVs and utility vehicles represented 66.8% of the brand's overall 2022 sales total lead by Sportage, Telluride and Sorento. In addition, three SUV models achieved new full-year records---Sportage, Telluride and Niro. In December, Sportage, Seltos, Telluride, Niro, Soul, Sorento and Carnival all noted triple- or double-digit year-over-year sales increases compared to the same period last year.
Sales of Kia's electrified offerings increased by 142% over the same period last year. Kia's electrified models posted double- or triple-digit sales gains in six of the past 12 months.
Rivian
Teslarati reported Rivian said it produced 10,020 vehicles in Q4 and delivered 8,054 during the same period, putting the automaker just shy of its 25,000-unit production goal for the year.
Rivian said it produced 24,337 vehicles while delivering 20,332 in 2022. The electric pickup truck and SUV maker was only 663 units shy of its production goal despite rumors of the company reaching its 25,000-unit mark just days ago.
By the end of Q3, Rivian had produced a total of 14,317 vehicles, meaning the automaker would have to boost production by a considerable margin to accomplish its goal. Vehicle production at the Normal, IL, production plant was free of drama, or at least it appears, through the year’s final three months.
However, the young-and-scrappy Rivian, which has only been publicly traded for a total of six quarters, has more than 100,000 orders for its vehicles. Moving forward, production will continue to ramp at its production facility, while another one in Georgia continues to work toward initial development and construction.
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) reported fourth quarter 2022 sales of 20,756 and annual sales of 85,810 vehicles, as sales volume continued to be limited by industry-wide supply constraints. With a concentration through the year on maximizing dealer inventory for retail deliveries, MMNA's fleet volume in Q4 represented the single-lowest percentage of total sales ever, and full-year fleet volume at its lowest ever as well.
As it has been since its spring 2022 launch, Outlander remained the company's top seller and record breaker, with 40,942 units sold through the full year, the best single year in the nameplate's history.
Meanwhile, the all-new 2023 Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) began arriving in dealerships in late November, and MMNA's new electrified flagship charged out of the gate, setting a new all-time single-month sales record, nearly 20% above any other single month in the history of the model. PHEV sales were up 200% year-over-year in its first full month (December). While inventory levels continued ramping up, sales of the all-new Outlander PHEV were up 37.5% in the fourth quarter versus the same period a year ago.
Despite ongoing challenges from vehicle and part supply, a changing economy and hard weather across the country to close the year, there were significant bright spots, with Outlander and Eclipse Cross up 20.8% and 19.8%, respectively, over 2021 in total sales. From a retail-only perspective, Outlander notched its second-best Q4 2022 sales performance ever, behind only the previous year's best-ever performance.
As the entire auto industry is experiencing, MMNA's inventory going into the new year remains far below ideal levels, and well below natural customer demand.
Subaru
Subaru of America, Inc. reported 56,760 vehicle sales for December 2022, an 11% increase compared with December 2021 (51,146). With five consecutive months of sales increases, Subaru ended calendar year 2022 with 556,581 vehicles sales, a 4.7% decrease compared with calendar year 2021. These year-end results are reflective of the impact that the semiconductor shortage and supply chain disruptions continue to have on the automobile industry.
In 2022, Crosstrek was the top performer by volume with 155,142 annual sales, achieving its best year ever. Outback followed closely with 147,262 vehicle sales, while Forester added 114,096 annual sales in 2022. The three-row Ascent finished the year with sales of 63,704, up 6.2% compared to 2021.
On the performance side, the automaker's WRX model achieved annual sales of 18,662, while BRZ added 3,345 sales, a 44.2% increase compared with 2021. Following its first full month on sale in December, the all-new 2023 Solterra EV finished the year with 919 sales.
Source: Mazda, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Subaru
