Toyota Eyes Best-Selling Automaker Honor: Outsells GM For The First Time Ever

Toyota (TM) has edged out General Motors (GM) by selling more vehicles in the U.S. for the first time in a quarter and it may be well on its way to the title of America's top car seller.

Toyota reported sales of 688,813 vehicles in the U.S. on Thursday, beating out GM’s sales of 688,236 units for Q2. GM said that its sales were an increase of 40% for the quarter, while Toyota confirmed a 39.8% growth for the same timeframe.

Toyota could be on its way to becoming the best-selling automaker in the U.S. if it overtakes Ford, which reported a disappointing quarter of 475,327 units on Friday morning. Analysts projected Ford would sell 645,000 units for the quarter, CNBC reported.

However, Ford has said it expects half of its production to be lost in Q2 due to chip disruptions. The company has said that it anticipates an earning reduction of $2.5 billion for 2021 due to semiconductor chip shortages.

GM has said it expects the chips shortage to reduce its operating costs by as much as $1.5 to $2 billion from plant shutdowns in 2021.

Toyota is also contending with chip shortages, but has been able to manage the disruptions to production better as it has more experience dealing with lower inventories and seeing further into its supply chain, Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds, told CNBC.

Compounding Toyota’s ability to stay ahead of the chip shortage, according to Reuters, was stockpiling of the part, which helped the automaker avoid short-term chip effects that were impacting its rivals.

GM had remained the best-selling automaker in the U.S. except in the third quarter of 1998, when Ford outsold the company, according to Edmunds, as reported by CNBC.

Shares of Toyota were trading at $176.18 as of 9:53 a.m. EDT on Friday, up 70 cents, or 0.40%, while shares of GM were trading at $58.72, down 39 cents, or 0.66% at the same time.