Toyota soars because Fuel Efficiency

The perception that the imports are the only ones offering good fuel mileage is not verified by the EPA. Teh fact is GM offers more vehicle that get 30 MPG, or more, than do any of the import brands

mike

And how many models do they have that offer better than 37?

Toyota April 2007 Sales results certainly contradict the idea that "Toyota Motor Corp.'s success is fueled by robust demand for its reliable, fuel-efficient models, including the Camry, Corolla, Yaris and gas-electric hybrid Prius.

Camry sales down 2.2% Corolla Sales down 3.3% Scion xA Sales down 53% Scion xB Sales down 78% Scion xC Sales down 10%

Prius sales are still doing well compared to last year. However compared to last month, Prius sales nose dived (13,056 in April vs.

19,156 in March) The Yaris also showed a small April 2006 to April 2007 increase but had verly slightly decreased sales compared to March of 2007 (7,232 in April 2007, vs. 7,614 in March 2007). Of course Yaris sales were just ramping up last April, so year to year comparions are not so meaningful.

The brights spots for Toyota are RAV4s and Tundras - hardly vehicles you'd expect to do well if Toyota's sucess is "fueled by fuel efficient vehicles."

Overall, Toyota sales were down by 4% in April 2007 compared to April

2006. Compared to Ford, down 13%, this is still very good, but Chrysler actually posted a 2% increase compard to last April.

So what headline will NPR have? "Toyotas success fueled by Gas Sucking SUVs and Pick-up?" Or maybe "Buyers Turn Away from Fuel Efficient Toyotas to Buy Less Efficient Toyota SUVs and Pickups."

Ed

So?

Toyota sales fell less than the broader market. Put it in context. Toyota, by the way, says Camry sales are up.

The Rav4, by the way, gets about the best gas mileage of any SUV and, EPA ratings aside, head-to-head comparisons (Edmunds, for one) have the Tundra getting the best fuel economy (in spite of its class dominating horsepower). Sales do seem to follow fuel economy.

And then, maybe it's other things. Everybody I know who's driven the new V6 Rav says "awesome performance" and then buys the car without asking many more questions.

Maybe generally superior fuel economy is what brings people into Toyota dealers and then they see something they like better and buy it. That wouldn't happen to me at a Chevy dealer; I'll go out looking for upper 30's to lower 40's and there's no reason to visit Chevy for that. Once in the Toyota dealership, maybe I'd change my mind and buy an Avalon.

NPR wrote its story based on what looked like the best information they had at the time. If things change and appear newsworthy, they'll probably write another story. Could be the fuel price shock of the last few weeks is just flat going to hammer almost all sales as consumers save money to deal with it. Maybe consumers are wising up to their debt load.

You can slice this anyway you like, but Toyota still has cars that achieve

40mpg and GM and Ford don't come close. When gas prices rise, people take that into account.

I heard about this on NPR's hourly news this evening. They listed the various American car companies' downturns in earnings (except for one, which showed a profit, IIRC - but don't remember which) for April, then said - slightly paraphrased: "Even the Japanese car company, Toyota, had a loss in sales for the month of April, down 4 (4.3??)%."

Cathy

The downturns were in vehicle retail sales, not necessarily earnings. Daimler-Chrysler's sales were up, due to the success of their incentives.

The original press release said that, but the numbers that came along with the press released showed the opposite (except they left the minus sign off the delta) - so somebody at Toyota screwed up one way or the other. Later reports showed a decrease.

For 2007 Sales see

(this includes the error) For 2006 Sales see For April 2006 - Camry sales = 40203 For April 2007 - Camry sales = 37911 Decrease = 2,292 (-5.7%)

Now I do not know how the person that wrote the press release claimed sales were up by 2.2%, when they were down by more than 5% - even if you use the figures in the press release. Likewise, I don't know how they could claim Toyota sales were up for the month when again there own figures showed them being down by over 4%. There was definitely some creative writing going on in the press release, and it appears to me some minus signs were left out of the Toyota press release. GO look for yourself and explain the math...

Actually the Escape hybrid get the best gas mileage of any small SUV.

The EPA numbers for the Tundra are about the same as everyone else's. Toyota isn't selling Tundras for their fuel economy - they don't even mention that in the commercials.

The RAV4 is a very nice vehicle and does get decent fuel economy - but do you think people run out and buy it for that?

Probably not, Avalon sales are in the tank (down 24%). And you are wrong about Chevy - which is exactly my point! you are listening to the press bias and don't understand that Chevy has many cars with high EPA ratings:

Aveo 27/37 Cobalt 25/34 Malibu 24/34 HHR 23/32 Optra 23/30 Monte Carlo 21/31 Impala 21/31 Colorado 20/26 Silverado 18/21

Perhaps, but I still say that the original premise of the story was wrong and created a false sense that Toyota's were especially fuel efficient. I also thought the claim that this is the reason that they were doing so well in the market was bogus. I feel it was unfair media praise (i.e. a bias).

Define close...1 mpg, 2 mpg, 3 mpg?

The best Corolla is rated 41 highway, the best Focus 38 despite being larger and less expensive The best Tundra is rated 17/20, the best GM pick-up (non-hybrid) 17/21 The best RAV4 is rated 24/30, the best Escape 24/29 The best non-hybrid Camry is rated 24/34, so is the best Malibu The best Avalon is rated 22/31, the best Impala 21/31

The press loves to talk about the Prius, an interesting car, but they hardly ever talk about the Escape hybrid, or the new GM hybrid trucks. If you listen to the press you would think that Toyota has a huge advantage in terms of fuel efficiency. It just isn't true.

To be clear, I am not saying that Toyotas are bad cars. I am saying they are getting undeserved praise in the press. So my argument is not with Toyota, but with a press establishment that doesn't bother to check facts, but just spits back personal opinions as facts, or even worse, just barely rewrite company press releases.

Ed

I think you mean downturn in sales, not earnings. Chrysler sales were up 2%. Did they mention that Nissan sales were down 18%? Or that GM sales were down about the same as Toyota's? Or that although Ford's overall sales were down 13%, sales of Ford cars were up significantly?

Ed

I like how you claim that Chrysler sales were up due to incentives. About Tundra sales - don't you think incentives might have something to do with the increase in those? And how come, despite increased incentives, Toyota sold a lot fewer Prius's in April than in March? I don't know if Toyota is running incentives on Corollas everywhere, but they are around here (North Carolina) - yet the sales are down year to year.

Ed

I think you are using funny math. Your are adding the hybrid sales back to a total that already includes them. For 2006 and 2007 the reference I quoted does not break out the Camry hybrids as a separate vehicle. The 37,911 was all the Camry's, including Hybrids and Solaris. Toyota likes to lump them altogether to make sure it stays the #1 model.

The Toyota press release, without the detail chart, is at

. Even if the Hybrid sales aren't included, the press release is open to misinterpretation (probably deliberately so). The press release says "Passenger car sales were led by Camry, which posted April sales of 37,911, up 2.2 percent over the same period last year." You can read this one of two ways -1) all passenger car sales including Camry were up 2.2%, or 2) Camry sales were up 2.2%. Using the Toyota supplied figures only the first is true, and only true if by "Toyota Passenger Cars" you mean Toyota+Scion+Lexus cars. To me this is creative writing deliberately designed to allow misinterpretation. Ed

I was not making any claims on why Chrysler's sales were up. I was merely correcting someone's post, saying that the announcement was that Daimler -Chrysler's sales, not necessarily earnings, were up, and that the news story cited incentives as the reason for Daimler-Chrysler's sales increase.

The news story did not get into series-by-series sales results for Toyotas or mention the reason for Toyota's decrease in sales, and I haven't looked at them, so I wasn't attempting to analyze or speculate the reasons.

If you look at my posts, I generally try not to speculate or share opinions because I doubt if the people who post here care what I think ;-)

Now that you mention Tundra sales, IMO, incentives absolutely have something to do with the increase in sales. The recent article about Toyota trying to adjust model mix to meet demand for loaded Crew Max models with 5.7 liter V8 makes me think that another reason for the sales increase is that buyers who were already pre-disposed to buy a Toyota but wanted (not necessarily needed) a full-sized truck for recreational use to tow a boat or camper now had a Toyota that could do the job. If this is the case, Tundra sales will not overtake Ford and GM truck sales because the population of that type of buyer is nowhere near the population of traditional work truck buyers. There are loyal Dodge, Ford, and GM truck buyers, and I doubt if they are going to switch to a Tundra. So, IMO, the vast majority of other truck buyers are probably basing their buying decision on whether a truck will suit their needs and price, so for the Tundra to compete in that arena, its price would have to be lower than the competition. Knowing Toyota's corporate culture, they are not going to compete by price, so I see Tundra sales reaching a level that is above Dodge but still well below Ford and GM.

The next generation Corolla is due soon, so my guess is that you will see a decline or flattening in Corolla sales for the rest of the model year, and more incentives to maintain interest until the new model is out.

I wouldn't be surprised if Prius sales are down because the Camry Hybrid has cannibalized some Prius sales.

Ah - you're probably right.

Cathy

See my reply to Ray.

Cathy

Chrysler sales were