Toyota Tumbles 9% In February; Camry Off 20%

Paul Niedermeyer
by Paul Niedermeyer

Is it good news or bad news? After January’s 16% drop, February’s 9% slide could be evidence that the worst is behind Toyota’s fall from sales grace. It certainly seems that the models most connected to the recalls and bad news are being hit the hardest, with the flagship Camry down a nasty 20%. Just to show how the tide has changed, Camry outsold the Fusion by exactly 93 units. The Avalon was off 65%, suggesting that the gray panthers are avoiding its UA issues; let’s just hope they’re not buying Town Cars instead. The newly revised Lexus ES 350, also a UA posterchild, was off a fairly mild 9%.

Overall, Toyota brand vehicles were hit harder (-11%) than Lexus, which was up 5% in the month. The Lexus GX (+185%) helped keep the division in the positive side of the ledger. Prius managed a tidy 10% gain despite the bad publicity. Corolla was down a modest 6%. The new 4Runner is off to a good start with almost 3k units and up 55%. Full details after the jump:

Paul Niedermeyer
Paul Niedermeyer

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  • Stewart Dean Stewart Dean on Mar 02, 2010

    Hey Paul, you can't just plop a staggering picture like that down and say *nothing* about it! C'mon, *give*!

  • Iamwho2k Iamwho2k on Mar 03, 2010

    I would celebrate except my folks own that UA poster child, the ES350. (I told them to get that Jaguar XF...)

  • Analoggrotto What the heck are those people doing in front of that house? Just staring at this stupid pos truck?
  • Jeff Good review but the XLT although not a luxury interior is still a nice place to be. The seats are comfortable and there is plenty of headroom. The main downside is the limited availability resulting in dealer markups above MSRP. I have a 2022 hybrid Maverick XLT for over 2 years and it has more than met my expectations. I believe for many who do not need a truck most of the time but want one the Maverick will meet their needs.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X I use a now discontinued Kuhmo AT tire that is surprisingly good in the snow, even in 2WD. However since most of my driving is on road, I'm going to look for a more highway friendly tire for smoother quiet. I'm sure it can still handle the forest roads leading to my fishing spots.
  • MaintenanceCosts So this is really just a restyled VW Fox. Craptacular tin can but fun to drive in a "makes ordinary traffic seem like a NASCAR race" kind of way.
  • THX1136 While reading the article a thought crossed my mind. Does Mexico have a fairly good charging infrastructure in place? Knowing that it is a bit poorer economy than the US relatively speaking, that thought along with who's buying came to mind.
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