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Toyota Sales Drop in March, But Trucks Are on the Rise

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2016 Toyota RAV4 - March sales

The 2016 Toyota RAV4 was one of the light-duty trucks that performed well for Toyota in March 2016

Overall, March was not a month that delivered bragging rights for Toyota Motor Corporation here in the US. At 219,842 units sold, sales were down 2.7% (volume) over March of 2015. Making the brand’s March sales even less impressive is the fact that March 2016 had two more selling days compared to March 2015. On a daily selling rate basis, that means sales were actually down nearly 10%.

Toyota’s March 2015 sales marked a rise of nearly 5% over its previous year.

Toyota specifically, with 189,644 units, was down 2.7% on a volume basis and 9.9% on a daily selling rate basis. Lexus, which moved 30,198 units, saw a drop of 2.8% in terms of volume and 10% in terms of daily selling rate.

That said, March was a strong month for Toyota truck sales, especially the RAV4 and the Highlander. Toyota division group vice president and general manager Bill Fay remarked, “Trucks hauled the industry to see the best March in over a decade. For the Toyota division, light trucks, mostly supported by record sales of RAV4 and Highlander, posted best-ever March and first quarter sales.”

Sales of the Toyota RAV4 were up more than 15% in March over last year, while the Highlander was up 14.6%. This marks the best-ever March and first quarters for both models. Other models that performed well include the Toyota 4Runner (increase of 11%), the Toyota Tacoma (increase of 11.3%), the Lexus NX (increase of nearly 25%), the Lexus RX (increase of more than 5%), and the Lexus LX (increase of nearly 46%).

To no surprise, the Camry and the Corolla both posted strong numbers: nearly 37,000 and more than 32,500 respectively.