Eight years of Camry sales leadership is now threatened.
Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A. reported May sales of 162,813 Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles, an increase of 7% compared with the year-ago month. Last May, Toyota was clearly benefiting from the collapse of Chrysler and General Motors.
However, that was also well before Toyota’s subsequent recall of millions of vehicles for unintended acceleration problems, which are now implicated in the deaths of 89 people and subject to hundred of lawsuits. (See NHTSA Ups Toyota Death Tally ) The weakness appears in the Toyota brand since it only grew at roughly one-third the industry average. The Lexus luxury division fared better.
All told, Toyota’s U.S. market share fell almost two percentage points to 14.8%, according to Autodata Corporation. And its growth lagged the industry’s for the month, which increased by 19%, more twice TMC’s rate.
The beleaguered company established no-interest loans and discounted leases on most of its top-selling U.S. models in April and May, in an only partially successful attempt to stem a sales slide. Toyota is now continuing no-interest loans on 2011 Camry sedans, Corolla and Matrix cars, as well as the RAV4 sport-utility vehicle and Tundra pickup. The automaker will continue to provide two years of no-cost maintenance on all new Toyotas, according to Bob Carter, U.S. vice president of Toyota-brand sales. Toyota will also start advertising the “Star Safety System” that’s being added to all 2011 models.
Executives downplayed the ongoing troubles at Toyota in spite of the sales numbers, and a trend that will likely see the Honda Accord displace the Camry as the number one selling car in the U.S. this year, threatening Camry’s, eight-year best-selling streak. Year to date Camry is at 125,000 compared to 134,000 for Accord. Honda, said its sales rose to 117,173 Honda and Acura vehicles, from 98,344 as it managed to hold, but not increase, share at 11% in May. (See Driving the 2010 Honda Accord) Nissan’s share is hovering at about 8%.
“Memorial Day weekend kicked off the summer selling season with a bang, resulting in our best-selling weekend of the year,” said Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., “As Toyota maintains its leadership position as the number one retail brand in the industry for the third consecutive month, we look forward to building this momentum as we work hard to exceed our customers’ expectations for quality, safety, reliability and service.”
The Toyota Division posted May sales of 140,597 units, an increase of 3.6% over the same period last year. The Lexus Division reported May sales of 22,216 units, an increase of 31.3%.
Toyota Division
Toyota Division passenger cars recorded sales of 86,464 units, a decrease of 1.9% from last May. Passenger car sales were led by Camry and Camry Hybrid, which posted combined May sales of 29,295 units. Corolla recorded sales of 26,953 units, up 14.3% over the year-ago month. The Prius mid-size gas-electric hybrid reported sales of 14,248 units for the month, up 41.2% over May 2009. The new Avalon sedan posted monthly sales of 3,029 units.
Toyota Division light trucks posted sales of 54,133 units in May, up 14% over May 2009. Light truck sales were led by the RAV4 compact SUV, which recorded monthly sales of 13,102 units, up 2.9% over the same period last year. Highlander and Highlander Hybrid posted combined sales of 6,691 units for the month. The Tundra full-size pickup recorded sales of 8,491 units, up 32.4% over the same period last year. The Tacoma mid-size pickup posted sales of 8,630 units for the month. The new Sienna minivan reported sales of 10,666, up 49.7% over May 2009.
Scion posted May sales of 4,112 units. The xB urban utility vehicle led the way with sales of 1,879 units. The tC sports coupe posted May sales of 1,318 units. The xD reported sales of 915 units for the month.
Lexus Division
Lexus reported passenger car sales of 11,471 units, up 35.3% over the year-ago month. Lexus passenger car sales were led by the ES sedan, which posted sales of 5,115 units, up 24% over last May. The IS sports sedan reported combined sales of 3,247 units, up 11.5% over the same period last year. The HS 250h hybrid sedan recorded May sales of 1,360 units.
Lexus light trucks recorded sales of 10,745 units, up 27.2% over last May. Lexus Division sales were led by the RX 350 and RX 450h, which reported combined May sales of 9,116 units, up 22.2% over the year-ago month. With May sales of 1,413 units, GX luxury SUV posted a gain of 111.5% over the same period last year.
TMS Hybrids
TMS posted May sales of 19,110 hybrid vehicles, up 28.7% over May 2009. Toyota Division posted sales of 16,346 hybrids for the month. Lexus Division reported sales 2,764 hybrids in May.