Toyota posts 11.7% rise in U.S. sales
The best monthly sales performance ever for Toyota Motor Corp. and gains by fellow Japanese automakers Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. helped the industry in March top last year’s best month for U.S. sales, despite declines by the Big Three domestic automakers, according to results released Tuesday.
Toyota’s U.S. sales jumped 11.7% in March compared with a year earlier, boosted by record sales of gasoline-electric hybrids and strong overall car sales. Industrywide, light vehicle sales by major automakers rose 0.8% to 1.54 million, according to figures compiled by Autodata Corp.
The overall rise in U.S. sales came despite declines at General Motors Corp., down 3.9%; DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler Group, down 4.6%; and Ford Motor Co., down 9.1%.
Ford still held off Toyota for the No. 2 U.S. sales spot for the month, and Ford regained from GM the claim to having the nation’s top-selling pickup truck, even though F-series sales fell 15.1%.
In all, Toyota sold 242,675 Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the U.S., its best month ever. That includes 28,453 hybrids sold during March.
GM said sales of its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, GMC Acadia crossover and Saturn Outlook sport utility vehicle were exceeding its expectations.
Ford, which like GM is trying to reduce fleet sales, said its new mid-size cars -- including the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ -- and its new Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers sold well.
The Chrysler results come on the eve of DaimlerChrysler’s annual shareholders meeting in Germany amid intense speculation about a possible sale of the U.S. division. Prospects for Chrysler have been a hot topic since DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche first publicly floated the idea in February. Chrysler said the speculation didn’t hurt sales.
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March sales
*--* Sales % (In change thous. from YTD of March market units) ’06 share GM 342.6 -3.9% 22.9% Toyota 242.7 +11.7 15.6 Ford 247.4 -9.1 15.4 Daimler- Chrysler 206.4 -4.6 13.8 Honda 143.4 +11.3 9.1 Nissan 111.1 +7.8 7.2 Hyundai 42.0 +0.5 2.7 Mazda 37.7 +47.9 2.0 Kia 27.6 +6.0 1.9 BMW 25.3 +3.4 1.7 Mercedes- Benz 21.6 +0.9 1.4 Volkswagen 17.4 -16.3 1.3 Subaru 18.0 -5.4 1.1 Mitsubishi 12.5 +22.3 0.7 Suzuki 11.0 +1.3 0.7
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Source: Autodata
