Toyota Sales Dip 3.4% In March Lexus Continues Slippage Down 6.9%
Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA Inc today reported March sales of 217,730 vehicles, a decrease of 3.4 percent from last March.
The Toyota Division posted March sales of 192,791, a decrease of 2.9 percent from last March. The Lexus Division reported March sales of 24,939 units, a decrease of 6.9 percent from the year-ago month.
Toyota Division
Toyota Division passenger cars recorded March sales of 114,897 units, up 1.5 percent from last March. Passenger-car sales were led by Camry, which posted best-ever March sales of 40,487, an increase of 3.2 percent over the same period last year. Camry Hybrid reported sales of 6,930 units in March, up 45 percent over March 2007. The Prius hybrid gas-electric mid-size sedan posted best-ever March sales of 20,635, an increase of 16.0 percent from last March. Yaris reported all-time best-ever sales of 12,953 units, up 83.2 percent over the year-ago month.
Toyota Division light truck sales were down 8.8 percent, with March sales of 77,894 units. Light truck sales were led by the Tacoma mid-size pickup, reporting March sales of 15,587 units. The Tundra full-size pickup posted best-ever March sales of 14,311, an increase of 16.8 percent over last March. Highlander and Highlander Hybrid posted combined sales of 10,832 in March. The Highlander Hybrid gas-electric mid-size SUV reported sales of 2,239 units for the month. Sequoia posted sales of 2,856 units for the month, up 19.8 percent over the same period last year.
Scion posted March sales of 11,131 units. The xB urban utility vehicle led the way with March sales of 4,527 units, an increase of 74.2 percent over last March. The tC sports coupe, in its fourth model year, posted March sales of 4,082 units.
Lexus Division
Lexus passenger cars reported March sales of 14,881 units, a decrease of 11.6 percent from March 2007. Passenger-car sales were led by the ES entry luxury sedan with March sales of 6,019 units. The IS entry luxury sport sedan reported combined sales of 4,798 units, an increase of 1.8 percent over last March. Sales of the all-new IS F luxury performance sedan
were 323 units. The LS flagship luxury sedan reported combined sales of 2,125 units. The LS 600h L hybrid luxury sedan posted sales of 113 units for the month. Sales of the GS 460 luxury sport sedan reported a greater than ten-fold increase as compared to the GS 430 in March 2006.
Lexus Division light trucks reported March sales totaling 10,058 units, an increase of one percent from the year-ago month. The all-new LX 570 enjoyed sales of 642 units, an increase of 156.1 percent. The RX luxury utility vehicle posted combined March sales of 7,737 units. The RX 400h hybrid luxury utility vehicle reported sales of 1,570 units for the month,
up 15.0 percent over the year ago month.
TMS Hybrids
TMS calendar-year-to-date hybrid sales totaled 50,204 units. TMS posted March sales of 31,552 hybrid vehicles, an increase of 19 percent from last March. Toyota Division posted sales of 29,804 hybrids while Lexus Division posted sales of 1,748 hybrids.
There were 26 selling days this month, as compared to 28 selling days last March.