North American Passenger Car Sales for 2021
Total 2021 full-year sales of 15,079,182 units were up 3.4% from 2020 year-end totals. Truck and SUV full-year sales were up 5.3% to 11,654,294 units, while passenger car sales were down 2.6% to 3,424,888 units for 2021.
After a great first half of 2021 which showed a 28.8% gain on the same period the year before, the US car market has recovered only slightly from its dip in sales of 2020. Supply shortages due to reduced semiconductor availability caused the market to drop by nearly 22% in Q4, which translates to nearly 900,000 lost deliveries. As a result, the full-year figure is up only 3% to just over 15 million deliveries, still well below the average of 17.2 million the US car market showed between 2014 and 2019. Still, most manufacturers and especially dealers won’t be complaining about their bottom line in 2021 as manufacturers focused their limited production capacity on higher margin models while for dealers the shortages in supply reduced inventory and pushed up transaction prices.
The indicator estimates the number of new passenger car registrations and sales that took place within a country in a year. Passenger cars are road motor vehicles, other than a motor cycle, intended for the carriage of passengers and designed to seat no more than nine persons (including the driver).
List of North American Countries by Motor Vehicle Production for 2021
The average for 2021 based on 4 North American countries was 330,946 new passenger cars sold. The highest value was in the United States: 3,350,050 passenger cars and the lowest value was in Puerto Rico: 85,486 passenger cars. Total North America region passenger car sales hit 4,276,253 units produced.
- Total Car Sales for 2021: 4,276,253 – for all of North America
- Top Ranked Country Sales: 3,350,050 – United States
- Lowest Ranked Country Sales: 85,486 – Puerto Rico
- Average Country Sales: 1,069,063.3
- Number of Countries in Analysis: 4
It’s important to note that specific sales figures and rankings may vary slightly depending on the source, as data can differ between different market research firms and organizations. For this analysis, we have used OICA data.
| Countries | Sales Units | Rank | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 3,350,050 | 1 | -1.52 |
| Mexico | 520,112 | 2 | -2.25 |
| Canada | 320,605 | 3 | 0.58 |
| Puerto Rico | 85,486 | 4 | 3.49 |
2021 North America Region Passenger Car Sales Chart
This visual tree-chart shows the relative size of the North American car market and how each country fairs in terms of market share size.
Top North American Car Markets Ranked for 2021
Source: OICA
