New York, April 4, (dpa/GNA) – The US car market is showing signs of a recovery in the first quarter of 2023, an improvement on the previous year that was marked by shortages and supply chain problems, according to figures released by carmakers.
Sales at market leader General Motors (GM) rose by 18% year-on-year to around 603,200 new cars in the three months up to the end of March, the company said on Monday. GM said it delivered more than 20,000 electric cars.
German carmaker Volkswagen also benefited from the US car boom, selling 67,853 VW vehicles in the first quarter, some 4.4% more than a year ago.
VW’s urban off-road vehicles such as the Atlas SUV, very popular in the US, made up 90% of sales. Audi, a member of the VW Group, increased its sales by 49% to 52,763 cars. It sold 37% more electric cars.
While Hyundai, Nissan and Honda also recorded significant increases, the industry giant Toyota continued to struggle. US sales fell by 9.1% to 176,456 vehicles.
The figures of other carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and the second largest US manufacturer Ford were not yet available.
Supply chain problems and bottlenecks affecting key components such as computer chips had brought the US market its worst sales result in a decade in 2022.
GNA