Toyota Sales Up; Prius Sets All-Time Record

Toyota U.S. sales rose 41.6% in September to 171,910 units.

While the Japanese auto maker’s year-ago comparison was depressed due to post-Japan earthquake and tsunami inventory shortages, Toyota’s September 2012 tally was enough to topple Ford’s light-vehicle sales total by 932 units.

Almost all model lines posted increases, and Toyota’s Lexus and Scion brands also saw positive results virtually across the board.

At Toyota, the leading gainer was the low-volume Camry Hybrid, up 1,517% to 3,704 units. The Avalon large sedan and Sienna minivan were the only models to see a drop, down 36.5% and 0.8%, respectively.

The Prius also was a top performer, up 49.0% in September, including both the original liftback model and the V wagon. Sales of the Prius C came to 3,386 units and some 1,652 plug-in Priuses were sold in the month.

Combining year-to-date volumes of the liftback and V with the subcompact C and plug-in models, Toyota bested its all-time record Prius sales record set in 2007.

While the auto maker needed 12 months to record 181,221 deliveries five years ago, it achieved sales of 183,340 Priuses in the first nine months of 2012.

Some 149,518 of 2012 deliveries were Prius and Prius Vs, while 26,114 Prius Cs and 7,708 plug-in Priuses also have been sold this year.

WardsAuto data shows even without the C and plug-in, the Prius this year should easily top the 181,221 units sold in 2007. Toyota needs to average only 312 daily deliveries for the remainder of the year, well below the Prius’ daily sales rate so far of 648 for 2012.

Toyota expects to sell between 200,000 and 220,000 Priuses in the U.S. in 2012.

Scion had the biggest month of any Toyota brand, surging 75.7%, thanks to increases in sales of the existing xB, xD and tC models and the addition of 1,133 FR-S sports cars and 683 iQ minicars.

Lexus sales jumped 36% to 20,386 in September, with the GS sedan achieving triple-digit percentage hikes on moderate volume.

The new ’13 ES sedan drove that model’s deliveries up 42.1% in September, with 1,400 of the new 300h hybrid among the 6,553 ES sedans sold.

“I think we’ll be able to continue to make some progress in the fourth quarter,” Bill Fay, Toyota group vice president and general manager, tells media in a conference call.

Fay says Toyota has generally good inventory across the board, barring some slight weakness in Scion FR-S and Prius C stocks. That, combined with buyers motivated by low-financing offers, should help the auto maker end the year on a high note.

Toyota will continue to offer Camry leases below $200 in many U.S. markets during the month of October. Fay credits strong residual values for this deal, adding the Camry has padded its lead over competitors, despite a crush of new models.

As of midafternoon, without all auto brands reporting, Toyota, Lexus and Scion combined had gained a point-and-a-half of market share in the U.S. this year, Fay says.

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