The microchip shortage and corresponding lack of new vehicle inventory continued to wreak havoc on the U.S. auto industry in October 2021.
Remember, many of the automakers no longer report sales monthly, but enough do that we can get a feel for sales trends. Except for Genesis, that has several new products this year, all the rest were down from October 2020.
For October, the industry was down 17.4%. However, through the first ten months of 2021, the industry is actually up 12% thanks primarily to a great first quarter before the chip shortage took hold.
OCTOBER U.S. AUTO SALES
Here are the brands that report and how they fared in October 2021 versus October 2020:
| October 2021 | October 2020 | ||
| 1. | Ford | 166,118 | 3.3% |
| 2. | Toyota | 124,040 | 30.6% |
| 3. | Honda | 87,028 | 23.1% |
| 4. | Hyundai | 56,761 | 1.1% |
| 5. | Kia | 52,067 | 7.2% |
| 6. | Subaru | 36,817 | 40% |
| 7. | Lexus | 22,631 | 15.2% |
| 8. | Mazda | 19,519 | 14.1% |
| 9. | Acura | 10,055 | 27.1% |
| 10. | Volvo | 8,701 | 18.6 % |
| 11. | Lincoln | 8,346 | 17% |
| 12. | Genesis | 5,300 | 2.8% |
OCTOBER INCENTIVE SPENDING
As you would expect, automakers continued to pull back on the amount of incentives spent for each car last month, without exception. BMW spent the most money per vehicle, while Hyundai spent the least.
Here is October 2021 incentive spending by automaker versus what each one spent in October 2020:
| October 2021 | October 2020 | ||
| 1. | BMW | $3,360 | $4,916 |
| 2. | Stellantis | $3,108 | $4,480 |
| 3. | Daimler | $2,981 | $4,563 |
| 4. | VW | $2,525 | $3,839 |
| 5. | Ford | $2,481 | $4,375 |
| 6. | GM | $2,441 | $4,943 |
| 7. | Nissan | $2,332 | $4,661 |
| 8. | Toyota | $2,045 | $2,462 |
| 9. | Honda | $1,982 | $2,298 |
| 10. | Kia | $1,775 | $2,891 |
| 11. | Subaru | $1,218 | $1,525 |
| 12. | Hyundai | $1,180 | $2,323 |
Photo Credit: Ford
