Toyota continued its high US growth sales trend with September sales of 222,950 vehicles, an increase of 20.2% year on year. Calendar year to date sales total 1,928,496 units, up 12% over last year.
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Toyota’s sales growth is being turbocharged by its recent entry into the truck market, an area traditionally dominated by the Big Three. Toyota truck sales were up 34.8%, compared with cars, which were up 18.4%. Sales of Toyota’s Tundra pickup rose 74% to 12,609 units, but they were still far below the industry-leading Ford F-series, with 70,822 units sold, and the Chevrolet Silverado, with 51,964.
Consumers did start to buy more trucks and SUVs in September thanks to a fall in petrol prices. Despite this, of the domestic Big Three, only Ford recorded any growth. Its US sales totalled 238,848, up 5% on a year ago. The strongest growth came, in fact, from car sales, which totalled 92,111, up 26% thanks to strong demand for the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln MKZ. Truck sales totalled 146,737, down 5%, but F-series trucks and Explorer and Expedition SUVs posted higher sales, reversing recent trends.
The increase in Ford’s sales cannot be seen as an indication of the start of a turnaround at Ford as its sales in September last year were particularly low because of Hurricane Katrina.
GM sold 338,380 new vehicles in September, down 3.1% on a year ago. GM attributed this to a reduction in low-margin sales to daily rental companies. Retail sales of 246,797 vehicles were up slightly on a year ago (+1,385 units), but GM said that retail car sales were down 12% due to the inventory constraints of the Chevrolet Aveo (imported from GM Daewoo in Korea), and the US-made Cobalt and Malibu.
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By GlobalDataChrysler group sales were down 7% to 168,888 units. Car sales plunged 26.6%, while truck sales rose 4.3%, with minivan sales up 53% on a year ago. Mercedes-Benz USA sales were up 13.2% to 19,873 vehicles.
Chrysler derives around 75% of its sales from trucks, compared with GM, for which trucks account for 60% of sales, and Ford’s 62%.
Honda and Nissan also reported sales drops. Honda volume fell 4.1% to 116,226 vehicles. Car sales dropped 13%, but truck sales were up 11.6%. Nissan sales fell 5.6% to 88,340 last month. The numbers include an 11.1% decrease for cars and a 2.7% increase for trucks.
Total US sales fell 2% in September to 1.35m units, according to Autodata. Car sales fell 6% but truck sales rose 1%, reversing a downward trend that had begun earlier this year, according to Reuters. Year-to-date sales were down 4% to the end of August, thanks to a weaker housing market, higher interest rates and the rise in petrol prices.
After rising to over $US3 per (smaller US) gallon this summer, petrol prices fell again to around $2.30 in September.
