Toyota January US Sales Drop

Due to the problems Toyota managed to get itself into, its report of the January US sales is quite an interesting piece of information. Everybody already knows about the recall and the faulty accelerator pedal, so how did that affect Toyota’s sales?

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A. reported today total sales of 98,796 for January 2010, a decrease of 8.7 percent compared to January 2009.

The Toyota Division, the main organization that had to suffer due to latest problems, sold 83,279 units, a decrease of 12 percent over the same period last year. Keep in mind that on January 26, Toyota suspended sales of the eight faulty models, impacting the Division’s January sales, as the eight models represented more than 60 percent of Toyota inventory.

Toyota Division passenger cars registered a 5 percent decrease from last January, selling 52,616 units: car sales were led by Corolla with 17,121 units, followed by the Camry and the Camry hybrid with 15,792 units. The Prius also managed to keep up with the times and sold 8,484 units.

Toyota Division light trucks sold 30,663 units in January. The sales leader was the RAV4 compact SUV with 7,894 units sold in January. The Tundra full-size pickup recorded monthly sales of 3,904 units for the month, despite the 2009 recalls due to serious chassis rust.

Things are looking better for the Lexus Division, which had total sales of 15,517 units in January, reporting a 14.2 percent increase over January 2009.

The Japanese also wanted to emphasize the this January were only 24 selling days, compared to 26 selling days in 2009. Still most automakers reported sales increases compared to last year.