Pedal Power: Toyota sales fall 16% in January

Pedal Power: Toyota sales fall 16% in January

Filed under: Car Buying, Recalls, Toyota

We'll have our By the Numbers report for January sales ready in about an hour, but in the meantime, we thought you'd like to know how Toyota sales fared considering, well... everything that's going on. As you can see from the chart below, sales in January for both Toyota Motor Company and the Toyota brand itself were down versus January 2009 - 16 percent and nearly 19 percent, respectively (all percentages reflect the change in total volume and do not take into account that there were two less selling days in January 2010 versus January 2009). As you'll also see later in our By the Numbers report, that's in contrast to many of Toyota's competitors that enjoyed an increase in sales last month.

We've also included sales performance numbers for each model affected by the latest sticking pedal recall (models affected by the floormat recall are not all included, although some models are involved in both recalls). Again, sales for every recalled model were down despite the recall having been announced relatively late in the month on January 21. Of particular note are models like the Corolla/Matrix (Toyota doesn't separate out sales numbers for these two vehicles) and the Camry, the two biggest sellers involved in the recall. The Camry, the perennial best-selling car in the U.S., was actually beat last month by the Honda Accord, which saw its sales jump over 25 percent to 20,759 units in January 2010.

January 2010 January 2009 Change (%) December 2009 Change (%) Toyota Motor Co 98,796 117,287 -15.76 187,860 -47.41 Toyota 83,279 102,565 -18.80 159,295 -47.72 RAV4 7,894 8,034 -1.74 16,742 -52.85 Corolla/Matrix 17,121 19,238 -11.00 34,220 -49.97 Avalon 944 2,119 -55.45 2,574 -63.33 Camry 15,792 20,782 -24.01 34,946 -54.81 Highlander 4,478 5,757 -22.22 9,442 -52.57 Tundra 3,904 7,076 -44.83 8,870 -55.99 Sequoia 644 1,592 -59.55 1,760 -63.41

We also threw in sales numbers for December 2009 to compare how Toyota fared month-to-month. A direct comparison with the month before the recall was announced is difficult, however, since December sales are usually inflated by year-end sales incentives.

Of course, January is just a preview of what Toyota may expect in February. While a fix for the recall was announced this week and dealers should start repairing vehicles by week's end, the PR damage has been done and may get even worse if two House hearings on the matter scheduled to take place next month bring more negative information to light.

Pedal Power: Toyota sales fall 16% in January originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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