Supply chain issues have hampered the auto industry since the beginning of the pandemic, and analysts following the industry say that automakers are offering mixed signals about the state of the market.
“I find it interesting because you would feel like it’s a fairly consistent issue on these supplies, but it seems like it’s starting to get spotty or certain automakers are coming back quicker than others, and they’re benefiting from the slow reproduction and recovery of the supply chain issue,” iSeeCars.com Executive Analyst Karl Brauer told Yahoo Finance Live.
General Motors posted a big sales gain in the third quarter, a reverse from the previous quarter as the company touted improved vehicle availability and strong demand. The automaker said its U.S. sales rose 24% compared to the same period last year from 446,997 to 555,580.
In a press release, the company said, “GM and its dealers were able to translate improved semiconductor supplies, stable production and improvements in dealer inventory into a nearly 3-point improvement in retail market share year over year… as well as significant sales gains in the commercial fleet market.”
“What GM tells me is they certainly got a lot of their backlog supply issues filled because they had a lot of cars sitting around that weren’t being sold because they had a few pieces or parts missing,” Brauer said. “And I think they got all those cars cleared out, put into the dealerships, and we saw their inventory numbers grow and, of course, their sales grow tremendously.”
Ford is another example of an automaker trying to bounce back from supply chain disruptions. The company saw overall vehicle sales fall in September while electric vehicle sales triple, helping the company gain 3.1% in EV market share. At the same time, the company again increased the price of its electric F-150 Lightning Pro truck amid “ongoing supply chain constraints, rising material costs and other market factors.”
Click here to see the full report from Dani Romero at Yahoo Finance.