Not only are Toyota Division's new-vehicle sales plunging, but so are residual values on its used cars and trucks.That is depriving Toyota of one of its best marketing tools: the healthy residuals the brand long has been able to brag about.
For most of this decade, Toyota's cars and trucks held more than half their sticker price when coming off lease after 36 months. And they regularly outperformed residual forecasts by the authoritative Automotive Lease Guide in Santa Barbara, Calif.
But this year the average three-year-old Toyota brand vehicle is expected to retain only 46.5 percent of its value, below the 50.5 percent projected by the guide in 2006.
"Toyota has gone from such a strong position," says James Clark, general manager of Automotive Lease Guide. "The change has been pretty dramatic. In today's economy, resale value is a good selling point. Now they don't have that."
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