Toyota surpasses domestic auto firms in U.S. marketplace

Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday has announced the flourishing U.S. sales in last month, hitting hard the domestic automakers in the U.S. marketplace in September. Toyota has posted a 25% year-over-year (YoY) sales increase compared with September 2005.

The Japanese multinational corporation, Toyota reported sales strength in many areas. Its car sales jumped 18.45%, while truck sales surged 34.9%, the automaker reported.

Sales of the Prius gas-electric hybrid mid-size sedan surged 28%, to 10,492. Light truck sales were led by Sienna with monthly sales of 14,348 up 9.7% over the same period last year. The all-new FJ Cruiser, which went on sale in March, reported sales of 5,546 units.
The automaker also sold more Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs.

The Tundra full-size pickup truck reported best-ever September sales of 12,609 units, up 67.2% over the same period last year. But the irony with the Tundra pickup is that despite the soaring sales, the figure is still far below the Ford F-Series, with 70,822 units sold, and the Chevrolet Silverado, with 51,964.

In a Company statement, Jim Lentz, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, said, “While crossovers, hybrids and small cars continue to show strength, our SUVs and full-size trucks also posted solid gains,” and “It’s the breadth of our lineup that enables us to satisfy today’s buyers.”

Toyota has increased its sales and profit forecasts this year, and some analysts say it is on the edge of surpassing GM as the world’s pioneer automaker. They say Toyota's sales were elevated by truck discounts and rising sales of small cars, including models from Scion and Lexus.

On Toyota’s trucks’ surging sale, Jesse Toprak, an analyst with Edmunds.com, commented incentives helped uplift sales of Toyota's trucks. "Toyota certainly is keeping their momentum," he said. "They will continue to grow."

Meanwhile, General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler each witnessed their sales dip by a few percentage points, while Ford Motor Co.'s sales gained 4.7%.

GM's sales fell 3%, and the automaker announced more production cuts for later in the year. The auto company's car sales dropped 6.4%, while trucks, including pickups and SUV, were below 0.7%. The figure includes the European Saab brand.

DaimlerChrysler said its overall decrease of 2.3% mostly derived from Chrysler Group, its Detroit-based division, which reported a 3.8% decline in sales. Car sales slipped 26.6%, while trucks advanced 4.3% at Chrysler. Sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles also surged 13.2%.

Sales of Ford Motor Co., which is moving through a brutal restructuring period that includes mass job cuts and closure of many plants, elevated almost 5% in the month. Ford's increase over the same month last year was triggered mainly by car sales, which rose 26.2%, while its truck sales plunged 5.5%. The numbers include all Ford brands, like Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover.

Other Japanese automakers posted weak U.S. results. Honda Motor Co.'s sales were down 4%, with cars declining 13%. However, like Toyota, it also enjoyed hefty sales in the truck segment, with sales rising 11.6%.

Sales at Nissan declined approximately 6%. Its car sales declined 11.1%, while trucks sale has increased by 2.7%.

U.S. consumers, on the whole, bought 1.35 million new cars, pickups, SUVs and minivans in last month this year, up 1.9% from last September.