the semiconductor chip shortage and severe winter weather in southwest united states in february have caused automakers to shut factories turning analysts cautious about the speed of the sectors recovery in 2021by ankit ajmeraautomakers on thursday reported a rebound in firstquarter us sales from a coronavirusinduced slump last year but volumes were capped by a global chip scarcity that forced many companies to cut production the need for increased personal safety during the covid19 pandemic has boosted sales for automakers as people prefer traveling by their own cars to using public transportation advt the semiconductor chip shortage and severe winter weather in southwest united states in february have caused automakers to shut factories turning analysts cautious about the speed of the sectors recovery in 2021 march auto sales are shaping up to meet or exceed precovid levels the big rebound from the prior month was assisted by stimulus and any pentup demand from weather impacts in february ihs markit analyst chris hopson said however the stronger sales results are bumping against ongoing production issues creating what could be a volatile demand environment over the next few months general motors co said its firstquarter us sales rose 4 to 642250 vehicles helped by increased demand for its escalade sport utility vehicles and encore subcompact crossover suvs we are operating our truck and fullsize suv plants at full capacity and we plan to recover lost car and crossover production in the second half of the year gm executive vice president steve carlisle said the no1 us automaker said it expects the countrys auto demand to remain strong through the year with rising consumer confidence and spending aided by stimulus payments higher vaccination rates and the reopening of the economy advt fiat chryslers us arm said firstquarter sales rose 5 to 469651 vehicles due to higher jeep suvs and ram pickup trucks demand fiat chrysler is a unit of stellantis nv fords quarterly us vehicle sales were up 1 at 521334 vehicles with retail sales rising 23 higher demand and tight supply has allowed automakers to raise prices in the united states with an average price of a new vehicle reaching 37314 in the first quarter up nearly 3000 from a year earlier and over 4000 higher than 2019 auto consultancies jd power and lmc automotive said gm said it set a firstquarter record with average transaction prices at 40353 the company estimates that the seasonally adjusted annual sales pace for the first quarter of the year was around 167 million units japans toyota motor said its us sales jumped nearly 22 to 603066 vehicles in the quarter while south koreas hyundai motors us sales surged about 28 to 167130 vehicles randy parker hyundai executive president of sales said he sees a lot of pentup demand in the us market as rental car companies are also anticipating a recovery in travel and beating down our door for production reuters published on apr 2 2021 at 0348 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be