Trends that affected auto sales in 2021

Two significant—and unprecedented—factors that affected auto sales in 2021 were the ongoing pandemic, which caused major automakers to periodically halt vehicle production for days or weeks at a time, and the semiconductor shortage, which significantly reduced both vehicle production and dealer inventories. Nonetheless, customer demand for new vehicles was higher than in 2020, resulting in even greater inventory depletion and record-high prices for both new and used cars.

The numbers

Overall, 15,060,287 new vehicles were sold in 2021—including 3,364,513 cars and 11,695,774 light trucks—about a 3% increase from the 14,645,049 vehicles sold in 2020, but much lower than the 17-plus million vehicles sold annually in the 5 years preceding the pandemic. Car sales (versus light-truck sales) continued to decline as a percentage of total vehicle sales: They were 22% of total sales in 2021, compared with 24% of 2020 sales.

American car buyers’ tastes remained remarkably consistent in 2021: 18 of the 20 best-selling cars and light trucks in 2020 returned to the list in 2021. Only the Mazda CX-5 and Tesla Model Y were new. And 13 of the vehicles on the list increased their sales numbers in 2021. The Jeep Grand Cherokee made the biggest leap—up 26%. (Yes, technically the Tesla Model Y increased its numbers by 141%, but it wasn’t sold for the entirety of 2020.) The Chevy Equinox suffered the biggest loss—it was down 39%.

Six of the 20 vehicles kept the same position last year as in 2020. Most repeaters were near the top of the list and are perennial favorites: the Ford F-Series, Ram Pickup, Chevy Silverado, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Toyota Camry. And crossovers and pickups continued to rule: Only 4 cars made it into the top 20.