Toyota Sales Flat in June

Toyota sold 209,912 units in June, down 0.1% from June 2014 on a daily-sales-rate basis. There was one more selling day last month than year-ago.

The Toyota Div. fell 1% on a DSR basis. That includes sales of the Scion brand which were off 20.1% from year-ago.

The Lexus luxury brand continues to ride a hot streak, as its sales increased 6.6% in June despite the extra day.

The big story at Toyota and Lexus, as with most brands in the U.S. auto industry, is the continuing strength of the light-truck sector.

Toyota set a new June light-truck sales record, “reflecting the continued surging consumer demand in that area,” Bill Fay, group vice president-Toyota Div., tells media in a conference call.

Nearly all of Toyota’s light-truck models were up over like-2014, including the Sienna minivan (5.6%), RAV4 compact CUV (10.5%), Sequoia large SUV (12.9%) and Highlander midsize CUV (14.9%).

The RAV4 was far and away the brand’s biggest-selling light truck, with 24,843 deliveries setting a new June record for the CUV.

Toyota’s refresh of the 4Runner continues to pay dividends. The SUV had the biggest percentage gain of any Toyota light truck, up 36.8% year-on-year to 8,208 units.

Down for the month were the discontinued FJ Cruiser SUV (-99.4%) and Venza CUV (-16.6%) and the low-volume Land Cruiser SUV (-19.3%).

The Tacoma and Tundra pickups both had a good month, with the former seeing sales rise 25.9% on a DSR basis and the latter inching up 6.1%.

Fay says Toyota has just added a third shift at its Baja California, Mexico, plant for additional capacity of the Tacoma, and in general the automaker is looking at how it can get more builds for all its in-demand CUVs, SUVs and pickups.

At Lexus, light trucks also outperformed cars, thanks to the still-hot year-old NX. The new compact Lexus CUV accounted for 3,503 units of the automaker’s 26,121 June tally.

“Not only is (the) NX exceeding our sales projections, but (is) bringing in a median buyer 15 years younger than (that of the) RX,” Brian Smith, Lexus’ vice president of U.S. marketing, tells media.

Both Fay and Smith say the growth in light trucks mainly is coming at the expense of D-segment cars.

Smith notes the BMW 3-Series is one of the models most frequently traded in for a NX, and Fay says the Camry’s third straight monthly loss is due in part to buyers increasingly choosing CUVs over midsize sedans.

“We are now selling some RAV4s to some people that were originally considering midsize cars and, to a lesser extent, compact cars,” he says.

The NX, along with the also-rising GX SUV, offset declines of 17.6% and 18.9%, respectively, by the RX CUV and LX SUV.

The large LS and mid-large GS sedans were the only Lexus cars increasing in June vs. year-ago, up 3.8% and 4.4%.

The remainder of the brand’s car lineup notched DSR losses ranging from 6.7% (IS) to 29.4% (CT).

Lexus sold 1,129 copies of the new RC coupe in June.

In Toyota’s car lineup, nearly all models were in negative territory last month, including the Prius hybrid (-22.5%) and Avalon large sedan (-13.7%).

Sales of the Camry midsize sedan were down 11.7% in June and the Corolla compact sedan experienced a rare decline last month, down 4.9%.

The subcompact Yaris was the only Toyota car in the black in June, up 104.1% on 2,810 units.

The 3.7% climb of the soon-to-be-discontinued Scion xB couldn’t offset losses of the youth brand’s four other models.

Scion’s No.1 seller, the tC coupe, had a 2.0% dip to 1,418 units, while the FR-S sports car was down 14.6% to 1,003.

The discontinued iQ and xD model sold fewer than 55 units each, posting losses of 74.4% and 93.2%, respectively.

“Looking ahead, there’s every reason to believe the auto industry will maintain its pace through the second half of 2015,” Fay says of the industry’s second straight month topping a 17 million-unit seasonally adjusted annual sales rate, citing increasing consumer confidence in June and favorable interest rates.

For Toyota, he sees a sunny second half, as the brand builds out ’15 models and prepares to launch several ’16 models, including the new Scion iA and iM small cars, sport and hybrid derivatives of the RAV4 and an all-new Tacoma.

Fay expects Toyota incentives remain below the industry average, noting the brand’s spiffs were down from May and significantly below June 2014 levels.

At Lexus, the outlook also is positive. The brand is the best-performing among all U.S. luxury marques through June, up 14.5% to 158,848 units, and is on its way to its best year ever in the U.S. based on volume.

Smith says Lexus expects good results for the remainder of the summer, as it launches its annual Golden Opportunity sales event in late July.

The fall also is looking positive for Lexus, he says, as it prepares to launch an all-new version of the RX, its best-selling model.

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