Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) U.S.A. today reported November sales of 137,960 units, an increase of 6.7% compared to November 2010. Toyota Division sales were up 6.7% over the year-ago month. The Lexus Division reported total sales of 19,458 units, also up 6.7% year-over-year, the best month since March.
“I’ve been waiting to say this for seven months,” said Bob Carter Group Vice President and General Manager – Toyota Division. “For the first time since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan disrupted worldwide automotive production, Toyota sales were up last month.”
It was a good performance boosted by what Mr. Carter termed the tactical use of incentives on its popular cars and strong selling results of the newly revised 2012 Camry sedan and both Prius and Prius V hybrid models. As an example of how aggressive Toyota is consider that a 2012 Camry lease – a completely new car and the perennial best selling car in the U.S. – starts at $239.
Toyota Motor has now returned near the sales levels it had in Q1 before the tragic Japan earthquake disrupted production for months. For the second month in a row, Toyota easily blew past Chrysler Group to earn a solid third place in the industry behind General Motors and Ford Motor.
With the auto industry monthly sales (SAAR) running at the highest rates since August of 2009 when taxpayer subsidies boosted sales under the Cash for Clunkers program, Toyota seems ideally positioned to be back to full strength by early next year. As it is now Toyota has about a 14% market share in the U.S. for November even though year-to-date total sales are off a whopping 20%, at 1,384,558 vehicles.
TMS posted November sales of 19,181 hybrid vehicles, a 31.1% increase from November 2010. Toyota Division posted monthly sales of 16,260 hybrids, up 30.9% compared to the same period last year. Lexus Division reported sales of 2,921 hybrids, an increase of 32.8% over the year-ago month.
