Originally Posted by Autonews

LOS ANGELES – With inventories off 40 percent from last year, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. reported a 21 percent drop in June sales.

But with most of its plants returning to or approaching full capacity — a faster recovery than expected from the March earthquake in Japan — Toyota is predicting a rapid rebound in inventory and sales.

The Camry was off 25 percent and the Corolla was off 14 percent. The RAV4 crossover fell 28 percent.

The only volume products that came close to breaking even were the Sienna minivan and Tacoma pickup, which each fell 1 percent.

Lexus Division has been hit even harder, and had just 12,000 units in U.S. inventory at the end of the month. That is barely enough to last three weeks during good times. Lexus sales were off 38 percent in June.

Although June sales were off sharply from last year, June was the first month since March in which Toyota sales increased from those of the previous month, said Don Esmond, Toyota's senior vice president of automotive operations.

"It's pretty hard to sell cars and trucks if you don't have them," Esmond said in a conference call. "Prius has a five-day supply. We have 1,400 left. But the pipeline is filling quickly, and production for the year will top year-ago levels."

When the earthquake hit, Toyota and Lexus sales for the year were up 11 percent. Toyota's sales are now off 4 percent through June.

"We are in virtually the same position as last year, but we will not finish the year that way," Esmond said. He added that output of most Lexus models has returned to prequake levels, with deliveries starting to arrive at U.S. ports. Shipments to Lexus dealers will double in July.

Randy Pflughaupt, group vice president of sales administration, anticipates that all plants and models will be at 100 percent production in September.

"As we move into early fall, inventory levels will be in our strike zone and in a position to return to normal sales volumes," Pflughaupt said.

As inventories creep up this month, Toyota will be offering 0 percent financing for 60 months on the Camry and Tundra, with an additional $500 for down payment assistance. The Corolla, Sienna, Highlander, Venza and Avalon will have 0 percent financing for 36 months.

Special lease rates will be offered on most models, with the end-of-cycle Camry getting blown out for less than $200 a month.

Originally Posted by bitkahuna

genesis sales at 3149 for the month are impressive! to the constant naysaters, is it still a fluke and still going to use the excuse that coupes are included? and still don't think it's stealing lexus sales? with shortages of ES, maybe potential customers decided to look at a genesis.

Originally Posted by TRDFantasy

I will admit Genesis combined sales are no longer a fluke, and are holding steady.

Originally Posted by bitkahuna

does bmw break out 3 series coupe and sedan sales?

Originally Posted by GS69

June's Top 10:
Chevy Cruze is Best-Selling Car in USA

The March disaster in Japan continued to scramble the list of Top 10 best-selling vehicles in June, leaving Chevrolet's new compact Cruze on top as the bestselling car in the USA -- the spot typically held by Toyota's Camry -- and the No. 3 vehicle overall.

Camry did make the Top 10 -- the only Japanese vehicle to do so -- but as the No. 4 car and 8th overall, with sales down 27.7% from last June. Toyota says production is getting back to normal, so expect Camry to move back up -- boosted this fall by the rollout the redesigned Camry for 2012. Neither Honda nor Nissan had a vehicle in the Top 10. The top Honda was the Civic at 15th, with sales down 34% vs. last year. The top vehicle for Nissan, which was not hit as hard by the disaster, was the Altima at 11th, with sales up 22.7%.

No. 1 and 2 overall were Ford's F-series and Chevy's Silverado, which had sales gains over last year of 6.7% and 5.1% respectively, were near the industry gain in June of 7%. The 2 pickups on top, plus the Ram at No. 8, should ease some fears that economy has shifted into reverse. Businesses and tradesmen appear to still be spending.

Behind the Cruze, giving Chevy a 2-3-4 finish on the list was the mid-size Malibu, still showing appeal well into its cycle -- the redone 2013 will be on sale in the 1st quarter of next year, a few month after the new Camry.

Ford new Focus was the 3rd car and 6th overall, behind the brand's venerable Escape small SUV.

Hyundai's new Sonata was 10th overall and the No. 6 car. The brand continued its sales roll with a 15.6% gain, while corporate sibling Kia was up more than 41%. Taken together (which is how their sales are reported in most of the world) they've now passed Nissan as the 6th largest automaker in U.S. sales.

Here are the USA's Top 10 best-selling vehicles for June, with monthly sales and change and half-year sales and change, according to a compilation by Cars.com of automaker data:

Originally Posted by -J-P-L-

Wow, Cruze the #1 car in America. Imagine the Cobalt as the #1 car? Boy, how things change.

Chevy with 3 out of the top 4 vehicles, shortly after bankruptcy. Another seemingly impossible feat.


As far as Toyota and Lexus, if people can't see that it's a result of the quakes, than I don't know what to say. Seems some are suggesting Toyota is simply faltering based on product. Not the case.

I also can't figure out Escape sales. It's an old vehicle that looks like it's 10 years old. It's not a bad vehicle, but c'mon, there's so many better choices among a very crowded field.

Originally Posted by Mr. Burns

Main thing with Toyota sales is they lowered incentives due to the question mark surrounding supply. The inventory has largely been there though. Lowering incentives made the cars more expensive than competition, which resulted in lower sales. There was a time when it was only the domestics who had to use incentives to move product, but it seems no longer are people willing to pay more for a Toyota.

This is in part because relatively the products are fairly lackluster. The Cruze, Focus and Elantra are far more modern than the Corolla, and the Camry suffers from a lackluster interior (an area where in previous Toyotas were always ahead of the class).

Ever since the introduction of the current Camry, sales have been in decline year after year. 2010 saw the lowest sales since 1995. The decline has gotten worse this year. Same goes for the Corolla (which came in with too little too late in 2009).

Lexus is different, they just have no inventory, let alone incentives. The Lexus brand though too is beginning to drag its feet. The competition (Audi, Mercedes, BMW) have been introducing new product constantly. Looking at BMW, they've got a new 1 series, 3 series (upcoming), X1, X3, 5 series (M5 and GT), 6 series (coupe and sedan) and 7 series. Essentially an all new lineup. Meanwhile we're still waiting for the new GS, IS, ES and LS. Not sure where all that money Toyota has in the bank goes towards, but they've been slow with new product, not just redesigns but new niches as well.

Lexus is lucky that cars like the IS have aged remarkably well (the brilliance of L-finesse), and that with a small facelift it can easily play with the best, even if it is 3 some years older than the current A4 and C-class. They need to stop focusing on entry level Toyota based hybrids though, and focus more on higher end RWD cars.

Originally Posted by -J-P-L-

Wow, Cruze the #1 car in America. Imagine the Cobalt as the #1 car? Boy, how things change.

Chevy with 3 out of the top 4 vehicles, shortly after bankruptcy. Another seemingly impossible feat.


As far as Toyota and Lexus, if people can't see that it's a result of the quakes, than I don't know what to say. Seems some are suggesting Toyota is simply faltering based on product. Not the case.

I also can't figure out Escape sales. It's an old vehicle that looks like it's 10 years old. It's not a bad vehicle, but c'mon, there's so many better choices among a very crowded field.

Originally Posted by spwolf

do you somehow imagine that car design takes 3 months or something? new Camry is coming next month and 12 other models in next 24 months in the usa... everything is getting redesign and it took 4 years to do so.