Light Trucks Drive Toyota’s November Volume

Toyota’s monthly sales again were boosted by strong demand for light trucks, helping the automaker increase U.S. deliveries in November 5.9% on a daily basis from year-ago, WardsAuto data shows.

Toyota and Lexus brands tallied 83,679 light-truck purchases last month, up 11.4%. There was one more selling day in November 2013 than in November 2012.

Including 94,365 cars, Toyota delivered 178,044 units last month. The automaker had a relatively low ratio of fleet sales, with just 5.5% of its November total going to daily rental and government and corporate fleets.

“The industry had a very good month with a very strong close, (and) much of the action took place after Thanksgiving,” Bill Fay, group vice president-Toyota Div., tells media in a conference call Dec. 3, noting more than 25% of Toyota’s sales were booked last weekend.

Light trucks showing the most growth in November included the Lexus GX SUV, up 63.3% from like-2012, and the Toyota RAV4 CUV, which saw its best-ever November volume.

Toyota sold 62 California-only RAV4 EVs last month, good for an 86.3% year-on-year increase, while non-EV RAVs tallied 19,385, up 50.4% from year-ago.

While all Lexus utility vehicles were in the black last month, including the top-selling RX 350, up 2.1%, results were mixed at Toyota.

The Highlander Hybrid, Sequoia SUV, Sienna minivan, Tacoma midsize pickup and Venza CUV were down, with the latter off 41.2% from like-2012.

Results were uneven for Toyota-brand cars, as well.

The Avalon continued to sell strongly, up 216.6% to 4,303 units, and the non-hybrid Camry gained 6.1%. But sales of the Corolla compact, which Toyota launched an all-new generation of this fall, fell 3.6%.

Fay blames Corolla’s decline on a reduction in fleet sales and the lack of ’14 models in stock at dealers.

The Yaris subcompact continued to struggle, with deliveries plunging 68.9%, and the entire Prius lineup was down. Sales of the liftback model and V wagon fell 0.4%, Prius C slipped 7.6% and plug-in Prius sales dropped 40.1%.

Lexus car deliveries didn’t fare much better, with only the IS 250 and 350 models, ES 350 and LS hybrid rising above November 2012, largely thanks to weak year-ago comparisons.

The non-hybrid LS and the CT 200h hybrid both saw sales fall more than 23.0% from last November, and the gasoline and hybrid GS sedans also were down.

Scion’s 4,968 deliveries were 14.8% behind like-2012 results.

The tiny iQ minicar slumped the most, down 63.9% on just 234 sales. The tC coupe and xB box again outsold the FR-S sports car, but all three were down, 6.9%, 5.1% and 7.6%, respectively, from year-ago. Sales of the xD subcompact fell 19.7% to 667.

Toyota estimates the November seasonally adjusted annual rate at 16.4 million, the year’s best pace and the industry’s best pace since February 2007.

Fay sees pent-up demand continuing into December and 2014, as the average age of a U.S. vehicle is 11 years.

Both Toyota and Lexus are launching annual holiday sales promotions, with Toyota’s “Toyotathon” and Lexus’ “December to Remember” typically the brands’ strongest marketing campaigns of the year.

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