GM tops US ladder

General Motors edged out rival Toyota to remain as the top-selling brand in the US last year as easing supply issues and sustained demand drove the industry to its best 12-month period since the coronavirus pandemic.

The Detroit carmaker shrugged off a hit from a costly automotive strike to report new-vehicle sales of about 2.6 million units for 2023, up 14.1 per cent from 2022, while Toyota’s climbed by 6.6 per cent to around 2.25m.

The top three models in the US were utes with Ford’s F-Series, pictured, leading the way with 750,759 units. Next up were the Chevy Silverado on 543,319 and Ram Pickup with 444,926. Toyota’s RAV4 was fourth on 434,943 with the Tesla Model Y fifth on 385,900.

Overall, new-vehicle registrations in the States during 2023 finished at some 15.5m, of which electrified vehicles including hybrids made up nearly 17 per cent. That was the highest since 2019 and surpassed sales of nearly 13.9m in 2022.

Electric vehicles also grabbed a bigger share of consumer spending in 2023. Toyota says sales of its electrified vehicles, which include hybrids and all-electric models, went up by 30.4 per cent to 657,327 to make up 29.2 per cent of its overall US sales.

Sales of Toyota’s pure EVs, namely the BZ4X and Lexus RZ, totalled 14,715 in 2023 and accounted for about 2.23 per cent of overall sales of electrified vehicles.

GM sold 75,883 EVs of which 62,045 were Bolts and 13,838 were Ultium platform EVs. It expects robust demand to carry over into 2024 and forecasts total industry sales of 16m units for the year.

Hyundai, which reported a 11 per cent rise in its annual sales, posted annual EV sales of 55,783 units. Mazda and Honda also reported higher annual sales.