Toyota Sales Keep on Dropping

While most of the automotive players present in the US, and especially the domestic ones, post increased sales for the past two months, the Japanese from Toyota begin to feel the heat caused by not as much by the massive recall as by the poor way in which they handled the situation.

The carmaker posted its February sales, with numbers showing a 8.7 percent drop compared to the same month of 2009. And remember, February 2009 was not a good month either... In all, Toyota sold 100,027 vehicles.

The Toyota division was hit the worse, registering a 10.6 percent from the same period last year, to 86,240 units. Corolla led the way in february, selling 16,996 units, followed by the Camry and Camry hybrid, with combined sales of 6,552 units.

The Prius seemed unaffected by the recall, as it managed to register a 10.2 percent increase compared to 2009, reaching 7,968 units sold.

The Lexus luxury division actually grew, posting 6,366 units, up 4.5 percent over the same month in 2009. The sales were led here by the ES 350 entry luxury sedan, with sales of 2,349 units. At the opposite end, the HS 250h luxury hybrid sedan sold only 712 units.

To cope with the second month of poor sale, Toyota announced today it is holding a March sales event, offering o percent APR financing, low lease rates and complementary two-year premium maintenance program.

“We launched this program to expand the focus on our customers, and thank them for their loyalty by adding value to our products,” Bob Carter, general manager of Toyota Division said.