Supply-chain disruptions, driven by the ongoing shortage of microchips that has dented new-vehicle stockpiles, undercut U.S. sales at Toyota Motor Corp., American Honda, Hyundai and Kia for the fourth straight month in November.
Deliveries at Subaru skidded for the sixth consecutive month, down 35 percent in November.
Volume dropped 25 percent at Toyota Motor, 17 percent at American Honda, 20 percent at Hyundai — its biggest decline of the current slump — and 5.4 percent at Kia last month, the companies said Wednesday.
Toyota Motor, which has overtaken longtime U.S. market leader General Motors this year, has been forced to cut output in recent months because of tight chip supplies. It has now posted declines of 22 percent or more three consecutive months. Sales last month dropped 24 percent at the Toyota brand and 32 percent at Lexus.
The Toyota brand was hampered by a 47 percent drop in November car deliveries, with Corolla sales skidding 63 percent to 8,906 and Camry off 34 percent to 19,261 units. The brand’s top-selling light trucks also saw double-digit declines: RAV4, off 14 percent; Highlander, down 13 percent; and Tacoma, off 21 percent.
Toyota said it had 116,638 cars and light trucks in inventory — or an 18-day supply — at the end of November, down 67 percent from 349,639 units a year earlier.
Honda said volume dropped 17 percent at the Honda division and 21 percent at Acura, with American Honda car volume off 24 percent and light-truck deliveries down 13 percent. Honda Civic sales slid 26 percent and CR-V volume dropped 19 percent.
Hyundai said it ended November with just 17,096 units in stock, down from 19,894 at the end of October and 145,885 at the close of Nov. 2020. Some of the company’s top-sellers posted notable declines last month; Elantra, down 42 percent; Sonata, off 56 percent; Santa Fe, down 24 percent and Kona, off 37 percent.
Hyundai’s fleet shipments also dropped sharply last month — 97 percent, and represented less than 1 percent of overall volume.
Randy Parker, senior vice president for national sales at Hyundai Motor America, said “consumer demand remains exceptionally high” but “lingering availability issues persisted into November.”
At Kia, some of the brand’s key models — led by the Telluride, Seltos, Sportage and Soul — all posted declines. The company said it sold 77 percent of available U.S. inventory in November.
Three of Subaru top U.S. sellers — the Outback, down 19 percent; Crosstrek, off 51 percent and Forester, down 70 percent — suffered significant declines last month, leaving the company on pace to post back-to-back declines in annual U.S. volume for the first time since the 1990s.
Mazda said volume dropped 5.3 percent in November, its third straight decline.
Genesis, helped by an expanding product lineup, continued to rack up major gains, with November volume advancing 435 percent to 5,002 sedans and crossovers.
Volvo is expected to report November sales results on Thursday, while Ford Motor Co. is scheduled to release results for the month on Friday. General Motors, Stellantis, Nissan Motor Co., Volkswagen Group and the rest of the industry post U.S. sales quarterly.
U.S. light-vehicle sales are expected to fall 11 to 12 percent last month vs. Nov. 2020, analysts say — dashing hopes for a more substantial finish to 2021 fueled by traditional year-end holiday discounts — after volume dropped 14 percent in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.
The emergence of another COVID-19 variant also threatens to upend the spotty recovery to the extent supply chains and manpower are impacted by new travel and other possible operating restrictions.
Retail inventories remained below 1 million units in November for the fourth straight month, J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said.
“The typical Black Friday sales surge will be difficult to support,” this year, said J.D. Power analyst Thomas King. “The traditional year-end sales push will be somewhat non-traditional.”
Industry sales rose 13 percent through September behind a strong first quarter and a 4.96 percent rise in the second quarter, followed by a 13 percent decline in the third quarter.
Still, November sales are expected to increase slightly from October, rising less than a percent to reach an estimated 1.05 million, Cox Automotive said.
“The market is stuck in low gear,” said Cox Automotive Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough. “There are potential buyers out there, but many are waiting on the sidelines, put off by limited selection and high prices.”
Even amid tight supplies, some automakers continue to pitch deals to keep consumers and buyers engaged.
Hyundai and Ford last month offered 0 percent financing and waived payments up to 90 days on select models, and BMW dangled up to $2,500 off on select new models through Nov. 30.
The seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of sales is expected to come in at 13.4 million to 13.7 million, Cox Automotive, J.D. Power, LMC Automotive and TrueCar forecast. The SAAR hit a 2021 high of 18.5 million in April and steadily fell to a low of 12.38 million in September before rebounding to 13.12 million in October.
LMC, citing tight inventories, said earlier last month the SAAR would hover around 13 million in November and December, undermining sales in what is the industry’s best stretches for showroom traffic.
The average incentive per new vehicle was on pace to set a November low of $1,612, a decrease of $2,089 from a year ago, J.D. Power said.
Discounts as a percentage of average MSRP — a closely watched industry barometer — were trending toward a record-tying low 3.6 percent in November, J.D. Power said, down nearly five percentage points from a year ago and the second time on record below 4 percent. TrueCar estimates incentives fell 50 percent to $1,888 per new car and light truck last month.
- There were 24 selling days last month, one more than Nov. 2020.
- The average transaction price is projected to rise 9 percent to $41,139 in November from a year ago and up 2 percent from October 2021, TrueCar estimates.
- Nearly 55 percent of vehicles – a record — were sold within 10 days of arriving at a dealership last month, J.D. Power said.
- The average number of days a new vehicle sat on a dealer lot before being sold was on pace to fall to 19 days, a record low and down from 48 days a year ago, J.D. Power said.
- Fleet shipments are expected to total 128,000 in November, down 28 percent from Nov. 2020 on a selling day adjusted basis, J.D. Power said, and fleet volume is expected to account for 12 percent of all light-vehicle deliveries, down from 14 percent a year ago.
“The supply shortage is being managed in very creative ways, from building vehicles without certain content to bringing chip development and production in-house for better supply chain visibility. However, the improvements in vehicle production are inconsistent around the world. China and India both saw stronger vehicle production in October, but North America and Europe remain constrained. Even as plants restart after being down for several weeks, they are not running near normal levels.”
— Jeff Schuster, LMC Automotive