Toyota Reports 36.6 Percent Decline in March

Just like the whole automotive industry, Toyota reported a massive drop in March 2009 sales, citing the over-discussed "we're starting to get tired of it" economic crisis. The US division of Toyota unveiled a 36.6 percent decrease from last March, with month-end sales totaling 132,802 vehicles. In essence, the Toyota Division recorded a drop of 36 percent compared to the same month of the previous year - 118,563 units - while the Lexus Divison confirmed a decrease of 40.6 percent from the year-ago month.

More specifically, Toyota Divison's passenger car sales fell 33.6 percent to 73,385 units, with Camry and Camry Hybrid remaining the company's best sellers last month - combined figures of 25,783 units. Corolla recorded sales of 22,257 vehicles while Yaris reported sales of 5,888 units.

Furthermore, Lexus passenger cars reported total sales of 7,212 units in March, a decrease of 49.6 percent compared to the same month of 2008 but, more importantly, up 13.6 percent from February 2009. Lexus ES was the best selling model with 3,225 units, followed IS (2,432 units) and LS (852 units).

Scion delivered a total of 4,663 cars to Americans in March, with xB the most popular model in the whole lineup - 2,090 units. The tC sports coupe came second with 1,545 units and xD with 1,027 units.

"With month-over-month sales comparisons providing a more realistic indication of current market conditions than year-ago levels, TMS sales posted a 16.3 percent increase over February 2009," Toyota Motor Sales said in the official papers. "In response to the changing sales climate, recent efforts to right-size production and inventory levels proved effective, with total TMS inventory down 26.6 percent in the first quarter."