Chip shortage drives GM sales down in Q3

DETROIT – General Motors’ U.S. vehicle sales in the third quarter fell more than 30% from a year ago, as a continuing shortage of semiconductor chips halted vehicle production and reduced inventories of vehicles. dealers.

The Detroit automaker said on Friday it sold around 447,000 vehicles from July to September, down 32.8% from a year earlier, when sales volumes were depressed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The drop was slightly larger than industry analysts’ expectations of 28.9% and 31.5%.

The chip shortage has caused GM to shut factories for weeks, if not months, and also partially produce high-demand vehicles, such as its full-size pickup trucks, and then finish when the chips become available.

GM warned investors last month that its wholesale volumes in North America would be down about 200,000 units in the second half of 2021 from the first six months of the year. It continues to maintain its financial guidance for the year, including adjusted earnings between $ 11.5 billion and $ 13.5 billion, or $ 5.40 to $ 6.40 per share.

Every brand of the automaker saw double-digit sales losses in the third quarter, driven by a 36.1% drop for Chevrolet.

GM plans to make up for lost volume in the fourth quarter, as Steve Carlisle, GM’s president for North America, said Friday the chip supply constraint is improving.

“The semiconductor supply disruptions that affected our wholesale and customer shipments in the third quarter are improving,” he said in a statement. “As we look into the fourth quarter, a steady stream of vehicles held in factories will continue to be distributed to dealerships, we are restarting production in major crossover and car factories, and we look forward to a more favorable environment. ‘more stable operation until the fall. “

GM said its overall sales through September were at the same level as a year ago, at around 1.8 million units. Sales of GM’s brands are all up for the year Chevrolet, which is down 5.6%, Buick rose 27.4%, GMC 8% and Cadillac 10.8%, according to GM.

GM is among the first major automakers to report third quarter sales on Friday. Overall, analysts estimate that automakers have sold less than 3.4 million vehicles, down 13-14% from the same period last year.