The shortage of chips has seriously affected the U.S. auto market, and the average price of new cars has risen by more than 13%, causing sales to plummet in the first half of the year – yqqlm

In the past few months, Tesla, Ford, General Motors, Rivian and Lucid have raised the prices of their electric vehicles, in part to offset the soaring cost of battery raw materials.

In addition to this, chip shortages and supply chain disruptions are also a major drag on auto supply. A foreign media survey found that the average price of U.S. cars rose by 13% in the first half of this year, and the rising sticker prices often make consumers daunted, further leading to a decline in U.S. car sales.

According to reports, this year’s chip shortage has mainly affected most automakers, including General Motors, but Asian brands such as Toyota and Nissan have been the most affected. Some automakers are optimistic about the global chip shortage, which they believe will soon subside, while others are skeptical about supply capacity in the second half of the year.

According to data from Edmunds.com, as the global semiconductor shortage continues, the inventory of major car companies continues to be depleted, resulting in delays in the delivery of new vehicles. At the same time, this also gives manufacturers the opportunity to ask for prices and increase profits. The national average price of a new car in May was $47,000, up 13 percent from a year ago.

Supply chain pressures point to the lowest levels of U.S. auto production and sales in a decade, with annual sales expected to fall to 13.2 million in June, down 20 percent from a year earlier, according to forecasts from six market researchers interviewed by Bloomberg. In contrast, before the new crown epidemic, from 2015 to 2019, annual car sales in the United States exceeded 17 million for five consecutive years.

Car sales are falling. General Motors said on Friday that its sales and profits would be hit as 95,000 vehicles were not delivered to dealers as expected in the second quarter as it waited for chip suppliers to deliver.

With the rise in interest rates, it has become more and more obvious that car companies use long-term financing to share the problems caused by price increases. Research firm JD Power reported that the average monthly payment on a new car loan was nearly $700 in June, up 13% from a year earlier.

IT House once reported that data from JD Power showed that the average price of electric vehicles in the United States in May rose 22% from a year ago to about $54,000. By comparison, the average price of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle rose 14% over the same period to about $44,400.

Electric vehicle companies say recent increases in the price of raw materials for batteries, which are by far the most expensive component in electric vehicles, are an important factor in the rise in the price of electric vehicles. Offers for lithium, nickel and cobalt have roughly doubled since the start of the global pandemic, according to consultancy AlixPartners. Analysts at AlixPartners said rising raw material prices could increase investment. Electric vehicles have smaller profit margins than gasoline-powered vehicles, and large battery packs cost as much as a third of the total cost of a car.

In the second quarter of this year, GM regained the top sales crown from Toyota, which had surpassed GM in sales in the previous two quarters. Most car companies, including Stellantis NV, said the data was dismal, such as Tesla. The 254,000 deliveries in the second quarter were significantly lower than the record 310,048 units in the first quarter, ending a two-year growth streak and also missing analysts’ estimates of 261,200 units.

GM said the hit to wholesale vehicle deliveries from the lack of cores would severely hurt second-quarter net profit, which it now expects to be in the range of $1.6 billion to $19, below the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion.

GM said it still hopes to complete the vehicles and deliver them to dealers this year and meet its 2022 profit guidance and vehicle production forecast.