Sales

TOYOTA: Down in August despite best-ever truck sales

Camry sales fell 19 percent in August.
September 04, 2018 05:00 AM

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. said vehicle deliveries in the U.S. fell 2 percent to 223,055 in August, which had the same number of selling days in 2017.

A best-ever month for light-truck sales was not enough to offset a 16 percent decline in car sales to 78,410 for the automaker. The Toyota brand's car sales dropped 15 percent, while Lexus car sales decreased 20 percent.

Light-truck sales -- which include the automaker's pickups, vans, SUVs and crossovers -- were up 7.4 percent to 144,645 vehicles, including an 8.6 percent rise for the Toyota brand. Those sales were flat for Lexus.

Brands: Toyota down 1.2%, Lexus down 7.1%.

Notable nameplates: Toyota Camry down 19%, Toyota Corolla down 5.4%, Toyota C-HR up 32%, Toyota RAV4 down 2.4%, Toyota Highlander up 24%, Toyota Tacoma up 35%, Lexus NX up 2.3%, Lexus RX up 4.7%, Lexus LS up 124%, Lexus ES down 27%.

Incentives: $2,600 per vehicle, down 9.3% from a year earlier, according to estimates by ALG.

Average transaction price: $31,586, up 2.9% from a year earlier, ALG says.

Quote: "Average transaction prices are up for the industry, as most manufacturers reported gains from the sales mix continuing to shift from cars to SUVs," said Tim Fleming, analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "However, despite the nearly 20 percent sales growth for compact and subcompact SUV segments this year, prices in these segments flatten or even slightly decline in August, likely a reflection of today's extremely competitive landscape and the abundance of new models available."

"You know it is a dreadful month for sedans when bestsellers Toyota Camry and Honda Accord post double-digit declines," said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst for Autotrader. "Conversely, it was a good month for utility vehicles, especially midsize models."

Did you know? Toyota continues to reduce its incentives overall. The company's incentives as a percentage of average transaction price in August was down to 8.2%, compared with 9.3% in August 2017. Toyota joined Daimler (8.6%), Honda (7.3%) and Subaru (5.6%) in keeping incentives under 10% of average transaction prices. The industry average was 11.3% for August, down from 11.5% a year ago, according to ALG.

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