Toyota Sales Drop in July

As American manufacturers are posting strong sales numbers for the seventh moth of the year, the Japanese from Toyota are recording one of their first drops in sales this year in the US. The carmaker says it sold in July 169,224 units, a decrease of 6.8 percent compared to the same month of last year (July 2010 had one more selling day compared to July 2009).

Most of the decrease comes from the Toyota Division, who posted 150,629 vehicles sold, a decrease of 7.2 percent. Lexus dropped as well by 3.3 percent, reaching a volume of 18,595 units.

Toyota's Prius, who this year is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the US, sold 14,102 units. The passenger cars division sales were spearheaded by Camry and Camry Hybrid, with 35,058 units and Corolla, which sold 27,345 units.

The good performer of the manufacturer was the light trucks division, which posted an increase of 6.8 percent to 59,563 units. The best sellers in this segment were the RAV4 (15,979 units), Highlander and Highlander Hybrid (7,811 units) and Sienna (10,381 vehicles).

Hybrids, one of the core products of the Japanese carmaker, sold 17,504 vehicles, with 15,953 coming from Toyota and 1,551 from Lexus.

In the end of July, the Japanese manufacturer was hit by another recall, this time concerning the Avalon and LX 470 models. 412,000 vehicles are being recalled to fix a possible steering lock bar which could break.

Toyota says it will replace the steering column bracket, with owners to be notified via first class mail starting late August. This latest development might affect Toyota in the month that just started as well.