Lexus, Trucks Carry Day for Toyota in Sluggish April

CUV and light-truck sales led the Toyota brand and combined with an 11.7% jump in Lexus deliveries to power Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.’s April performance, which finished below the expected industry pace.

Look for a better May from the Japan-based automaker, which is launching its second major national sales campaign this month and is working to fix pipeline bottlenecks that have left it short on inventory of key models.

In total, Toyota delivered 203,329 vehicles in the U.S. during the month, a 1.8% gain in both volume and daily rate, according to WardsAuto data. A year ago Toyota sold 199,660 light vehicles (there were 26 selling days in April both this year and last).

With the industry closer to a 5% rise, Toyota’s April performance appears a little sluggish. Some of that gap is attributed to low fleet sales – the automaker says its Toyota brand is the No.1 retail brand, but also is reflective of short supplies.

“Although we had a great light-truck sales month, we probably ran a little bit tight on inventory of a few products there,” Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager-Toyota Div., notes in a conference call with reporters to discuss the April results.

“We’ve gone out and looked at the next three to six months and are working with our manufacturing side to tweak that production mix and try to fill in that balance so we’ve got some more light trucks to sell over the next couple of months.”

While it works on those supply bottlenecks, Toyota also is launching a major sales campaign this month centered on low-interest financing and special lease offers. The program will include 0% 60-month financing on the Camry and Prius sedans.

Camry sales, down 10.4% in April, appear to be impacted by the market shift toward CUVs, while Prius, off 12.4% so far in 2015, is suffering from relatively soft fuel prices.

“May will be Toyota time,” Fay promises.

Driving the action for the volume brand in April were the 4Runner SUV (up 18.0%), RAV4 (21.7%) and Tacoma pickup (12.9%), but also posting strong showings on the car side were the Yaris (48.5%) and Corolla (10.1%). Overall, Toyota-brand sales were relatively weak, however, rising just 1.2% on a volume of 173,144.

Lexus got a boost from its new NX CUV, which added 3,421 units to its tally, and from a 19.0% increase in GX volume. But it also showed some strength on the car side with double-digit gains posted by the CT and GS.

ES sedan deliveries, down 22.1%, and RX CUV sales, off 16.2%, were among the more disappointing performers. Bracken says RX demand has been eroded some by the new NX, but the vehicle also had a slow start to April after the next-generation model’s unveiling at the New York Auto Show in late March.

Overall, Lexus sold 25,876 vehicles in April and came within 50 vehicles of its all-time best showing for the month. The brand is off to the fastest start in its 26-year history, having topped 100,000 units year-to-date in just four months.

The month saw more of the same for Scion, sales of which plunged 20.0%, with only the TC model in positive territory vs. year-ago.

Toyota is optimistic that the rest of the year will finish strong, raising its industrywide forecast for the year to an even 17 million units.

“It’s been the best start for the industry since 2001, when 17 million vehicles last were sold,” Fay says. “We believe the industry is well positioned for a very good summer selling season.”

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