Toyota’s Core Products Push June U.S. Sales Up 11.9%

Toyota kept its foot to the floor in June, posting a second straight month of double-digit U.S. sales gains by again riding the popularity of bread-and-butter products such as its Camry and Corolla sedans.

Toyota’s sales last month rose 11.9% to 201,714 units compared with year-ago, according to WardsAuto data. The result is adjusted for two fewer selling days vs. June 2013, when the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands combined for 195,235 deliveries.

Toyota sales were up 12.6% in May, and April narrowly missed a double-digit uptick as sales rose 9.0% year-over-year. Through the first six months of 2014, Toyota deliveries are ahead 5.1% on volume of 1.2 million cars, trucks and CUVs.

The automaker’s performance against the backdrop of another strong month from nearly all automakers, as well as signs of improving consumer confidence and relaxed lending practices, leads Toyota to lift its industry sales outlook to 16.3 million units from 16.0 million.

Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager-Toyota Div., says the automaker is working with suppliers to determine if it can increase production to meet the anticipated rise in demand.

“We’re now working with our manufacturing partners on a production plan for the second half of the year,” Fay tells journalists in a conference call today. “That’s not 100% finalized but we’re working with them to try and see where we can build some more cars and trucks so we can continue to keep our share of that growth.”

Toyota previously forecast company sales of 2.3 million vehicles this year.

Last month, core products gave the automaker momentum, a story that has been playing out most of the year. While Toyota Div. sales jumped 12.2% to 173,548 units, Camry demand provided the horsepower, as deliveries of the nation’s perennially best-selling sedan rose 22.8% to 40,664 copies.

A redesigned ’15 model bows at dealers in September, and the update is almost certain to give the nameplate more muscle in the highly competitive segment.

“It continues to show its overall strength in the marketplace,” Fay says of the Camry. “The (’14) car has done really well as we work our way through the build-out and the ’15 model begins.”

Sales of the stalwart and recently redesigned Corolla rallied 27.7% to 30,945.

Both the Camry and Corolla also saw greater activity by fleet customers in month, Fay notes.

“Both models benefited from the pattern of fleet deliveries,” he says.

Other standout performers for the division included the Highlander CUV, which saw sales rise 12.9% to 11,555, and the RAV4 CUV up 13.9% on volume of 21,589.

Sales of the Prius hybrid, however, tumbled 5.7% to 15,358, and deliveries of the Avalon large sedan were off 7.0% to 5,605.

On the truck side of the business, an 8.5% uptick in Sienna minivan sales helped offset a flat month for Tundra sales at 8,977 deliveries.

Lexus Div. sales increased 19.3% to 23,518. Strong demand for the newly redesigned IS250/350 sports sedan, up more than two-fold to 3,932 in the month, aided the cause. Sales of the E350 grew 7.5% to 4,406 units.

Scion sales plunged 21.2% to 4,612, as the youth-oriented division continued to struggle ahead of a future product infusion beginning next year.

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