Toyota Motor Sales today reported April sales of 178,000 units, an increase of 11.6% over the year-ago month on a volume basis. American Honda at 122,000 was off 2.2%, while Nissan was flat at 72,000 vehicles for April in an overall market that rose 2.3%.
The strong April sales performance at TMS brought it to within a rounding error to surpass a slumping Ford Motor Company for the Number Two ranking in U.S. auto sales. TMS was only 1,614 units behind Ford Motor, according to numbers from the consultancy AutoData.
TMS, clearly the strongest of the Japanese Big Three in the U.S., saw particularly robust sales for its Toyota division, which posted April total sales of 160,493 units, an increase of 13.1% over the year-ago month. This pulled Toyota ahead of the Honda brand at 109,837, and Nissan division at 64,200 – the other two members of the Japanese Three.
Sales of the Nissan Versa sub-compact, one of the least expensive cars in the U.S., posted a new April record, with 8,335 deliveries, an increase of 30% over the prior year. The equivalent Honda Fit only sold 3,200, dwarfed by the mid-size Accord at 35,385, more than double the equivalent Nissan Altima at 16,239.
In terms of overall group sales in the profitable U.S. auto market, TMS is Number Three behind GM and Ford, Chrysler Number Four, American Honda Number Five, and Nissan North America Number Six. A production-constrained Hyundai Motor America saw sales flat at 62,264 relegating it to the Number Seven spot for April and the near term, if indeed Hyundai doesn’t go backward in the rankings as the market waxes stronger. Hyundai is in the process of adding another 20,000 units of capacity at its Alabama plant, which may or may not help depending on market growth rates.
“Thanks to continued strong sales of Camry and Prius family, Toyota was America’s Number One retail brand for the second straight month,” said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. “With consumer confidence improving, we expect to see sustained industry growth in the months ahead.”
There was also little contest among the Japanese Big Three in the luxury segments. Toyota’s Lexus Division reported total sales of 17,551 units – flat when compared to last year – but still far out front of Honda’s Acura and Nissan’s Infiniti with sales of 12,175 and 7,129, respectively.
Nevertheless, all core Acura models – TL, TSX, RDX and MDX – posted double-digit increases compared to 2011 when Acura production was shut down because of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, and MDX remains Acura’s best selling model at 4,000 units.
Infiniti JX sales during its first full month totaled 2,079 units, making it the brand’s second-best selling model behind the behind the G-series coupes and sedans at 3,000 units in total.
In the new technology and green image boosting vehicle segment, TMS posted April sales of 32,593 hybrid vehicles, an increase of 124.6% compared to the same period last year. Toyota Division posted sales of 30,126 hybrids for the month, up 142.7% over the year-ago month. Lexus Division reported monthly sales 2,467 hybrids, increasing 17.6% year-over-year. The Prius brand – Prius, Prius v, Prius Plug-in and Prius c – accounted for a combined sales volume of 25,168 units.
Nobody else was even close. The Honda Insight and Civic hybrids were at ~1,500 vehicles. Nissan, which scorned the fuel saving hybrid technology two decades ago and is now attempting recover with pure EVs, sold, ahem, 374 Leaf electric cars, down 35% from 2011.
