Toyota PR has signed in, reporting that their “Saved by Zero” marketing campaign ain’t saving much. This November, the Japanese automaker’s overall U.S. sales dropped 33.9 percent, from 197,189 to 130,307. Of course, it would have been worse without the zero percent finance deals, which is one scary ass thought. And speaking of frightening, Scion is dead in the water, from xB (-43.8 percent) to tC (-55.1 percent) to xD (-27.5 percent). Still, small dog, small problem. Big dog (Tundra), big problem (-55.9 percent). And that’s nothing as compared to Toyota’s volume sellers, sales of which fell off a cliff. We’re talking Corolla (-12.8 percent) and Camry (-28.2). And for all Congress’ hybrid love, as TTAC predicted (thanks to our tipsters) Prius mania has screeched to a halt. Sales of the gas – electric hybrid fell from last November’s 16,737 to this Turkey month’s 8,660. That’s a 48.3 percent drop. Except for the new LX (up 497.2 percent to 424 vehicles), ToMoCo’s luxury division lost ground across the board, to the tune of -34.7 percent. Clearly, it’s going to be a long, cold winter for everyone in this biz.
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Compared to Lexus (-40%), Scion (-31%) don’t look all that bad……..
Toyota deathwatch?
Toyota passenger cars were down less than 10%. Wonder if the big Prius drop is legit or just more supply difficulties.
Does anyone have the Manufacturer Market Share Percentages they can share with us for November or even October?
I have heard various rumors of GM being over 25% but I’d like to see the numbers from an authoritative source.
Stu Sidoti :
Looks like GM just posted their numbers. They are down 41.3%, so the answer is no, their market share probably dropped if Toyota and Ford are down 30-33 percent.
http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=2&docid=50747
Bad numbers all around. Looks like everybody is screwed. Of course, Toyota still has their Scrooge McDuck money pit to fall back on. Detroit is not so lucky.
BostonTeaParty :
Toyota deathwatch?
Not yet…
BostonTeaParty :
Toyota deathwatch?
Toyota’s sales are down about the same as Ford and significantly less than Chrysler and GM.
The deathwatch can start when Toyota becomes burdened with 7500 dealers instead of 1500, 8 brands instead of 3, and, worst of all, the UAW.
Here in Canada, Toyota sales where up over 2007 for November, I know we dont count for much looking at the whole picture of NA Sales, but locally my Dealer sales for November was 102 New Cars sold! The Recession has not hit us hard just yet, but soon!
@M1EK:
Supply problem?
If anyone needs a Prius, my local dealer has a bunch of them.
Of course that 26 grand will buy a superb slightly used luxury car these days.
Many Prius sales around here came from have the “cool” factor, from [perhaps ill-founded] thoughts of saving the environment, or from the carpool lane bonus. The potential customers with those reasons have already bought the vehicle. Done.
Now that Prioria are a dime a dozen and have lost the carpool bonus, it has to make it on its own. Like every other vehicle, you weigh purchase price, running costs, utility, and entertainment.
The tax credit is now phased out, so this $23k car is really and truly a $23k car now. Unfortunately, it has the content of an $18k car. It gets better gas mileage than any other $18k car, but even that is less of a concern now that gasoline is 1/2 the price it was just a few months ago. It’s hard to see the financial benefit of a Prius over any number of $15k to $20k cars.
I guess the Prius can compete with Civics, Minis, and Mazda 3 hatchbacks as a “fun” car. Yeah, right.
SunnyvaleCA, you still have the fuel hedge (I bought our first Prius back in ‘04 when gas was $1.80) and the utility of the larger vehicle (yes, it’s bigger than the ones you think compete with it). And the thoughts of saving the environment are far from ill-founded, unless you’re going to throw some lies our way about battery life or something of that sort.
indi500, when we bought our 2nd, sales were down YoY by a large margin, but there were still waiting lists. They weren’t able to supply as many that particular month as the one the year before, in other words, but still sold every one they supplied.
Geo. Levecque :
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Here in Canada, Toyota sales where up over 2007 for November, I know we dont count for much looking at the whole picture of NA Sales, but locally my Dealer sales for November was 102 New Cars sold! The Recession has not hit us hard just yet, but soon!
Good for you. somewhere. The nouveau riche energy barons will continue to do just fine. I hope this energy exploration thing catches on in the States, too. I recall it from my childhood as being quite profitable and lending real stability to the economy.
The Lexus GX and LX are both midsize/large SUVs, right? They only have the one crossover, the RX. Is it just me, or should Toyota give Lexus more crossover and wagon type vehicles?
Lexus sells 1) boring sedans and 2) boring SUVs. Sure, they are nice, but the lineup is yawn-worthy and needs to be augmented if they are to sell in a changing market.
Whoa! Now THIS is something that the industry-watchers should take note of.
Even with Toyota’s zero-percent headache, their sales were still down by 34%. If they were that bad with the special deal, how bad would they have been without it? (I’m think 50% or more)
Droid800 – I’m guessing closer to 40%, like most other full line manufacturers.
I saw the Venza in person today and it is clearly going to be a hit. Unfortunately, it is going to be one of those cars that gets all of its sales from the former RX350 owners or Camry owners looking to get something taller versus taking sales from other brands. Some shades of GM there.