Mid-size pickup trucks and full-size vans outside a General Motors assembly plant where in Wentzville, Mo. G.M. is expected to release sales totals on Friday.Credit…Jeff Roberson/Associated PressGeneral Motors and Toyota Motor suffered significant drops in car and truck sales in the United States as the global shortage of computer chips continued to disrupt production and leave dealers with bare lots.G.M. reported that its sales declined 20 percent to 512,846 light cars and light trucks. Toyota, which is the world’s largest automaker, sold 514,592 vehicles in the first three months of the year. The company’s sluggish sales worsened later in the quarter, declining 24 percent in March from a year earlier.Edmunds, an automotive data provider, forecast total industry sales of 3.2 million vehicles in the quarter, down from 3.9 million a year ago.“Skyrocketing gas prices were top of mind for consumers in March, but the lack of inventory is what ultimately depressed new vehicle sales in the first quarter,” Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’s executive director of insights, …
