Toyota Sales Race Past 2-Million Mark in U.S.
Tokyo to Detroit: 2 million and counting.
Toyota Motor Corp. in 2004 became the first import brand to top that annual sales mark as the domestic auto industry’s hold on American motorists continued to shrink.
Despite slumping sales for Volkswagen, Jaguar, Isuzu and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., import brands from Asia and Europe accounted for a new high of 41.4% of the cars and light trucks sold in the U.S., according to data released by manufacturers Tuesday.
Asian automakers grabbed a 34.6% share of the market. The domestic brands’ collective 58.7% share -- a historic low -- was down from 65.6% just four years earlier.
In all, 16.9 million cars and light trucks were sold last year, the fourth best on record. But those sales were spurred in large part by hefty inducement programs, which many in the industry believe are losing their effect.
Although most major brands reported unusually strong year-end sales, General Motors Corp. saw its December sales fall from a year earlier even though it spent an average of $4,956 per vehicle in the month on incentives for dealers and customers.
“Incentives aren’t the whole story,” said David Healy, an auto industry analyst with Burnham Securities Inc. “Companies are also bringing out some good product.”
For the year, the industry averaged a record $3,942 in incentive spending for each car and truck sold, according to CNW Marketing Research Inc., a Bandon, Ore., firm that monitors incentives, which can include cash, reduced financing and leasing rates and even free auto insurance.
GM’s 2004 sales were down 1.1% to 4.6 million passenger vehicles from 4.7 million in 2003. Ford Motor Co. saw its sales slide 4.6% despite the late introduction of several new car models and strong sales of its bestselling F-150 pickups. At DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler Group, sales climbed 3.7% for the year on the strength of several new models, including the 300C sedan and the Magnum sport wagon.
Meantime, Toyota and Nissan Motor Co. -- companies that spend less on cash-back and other lures than the industry average -- both reported record-setting years. In fact, Nissan North America reported its best U.S. sales last year despite having the lowest incentives of any major brand, averaging $1,900 per vehicle, according to CNW.
Toyota’s Torrance-based U.S. arm sold 2.1 million vehicles -- with incentive spending at about two-thirds of the industry average. That spending was down slightly from 2003 levels, said Jim Press, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA.
Press wouldn’t provide figures for the company’s inducements, but CNW put the company’s incentive layout for the year at about $3,100 per vehicle.
Toyota’s annual sales increase of 10% came on the strength of a strong market for its trucks, fuel-efficient Prius hybrid and youth-oriented Scion cars. Additionally, its Camry sedan retained its title as the nation’s bestselling car, topping Honda Motor Co.’s Accord sedan.
Press said he didn’t believe that Toyota could sustain a 10% annual growth rate in the U.S., predicting the rate this year would be somewhat below 5%. Still, that would be one of the best among major automakers.
For next year, Toyota has set a global goal of 8.5 million car and truck sales. Some analysts are predicting that it could pass GM to become the world’s biggest automaker.
As it is, Toyota is fast eating away at Chrysler Group’s hold on the No. 3 spot in the U.S. Despite its 3.7% annual sales gain for 2004, Chrysler’s lead over Toyota slipped to just 146,000 vehicles from 261,000 in 2003.
American Honda Motor Co.’s sales rose 3.3% for the year to 1.4 million cars and trucks.
And Nissan North America, aided by full-year sales of its full-size Titan pickup, Armada SUV and other new vehicles, said combined sales of its Nissan and Infiniti brands rose 24% to 985,989 units. That boost came despite early quality problems with the Titan and other trucks coming out of Nissan’s new U.S. manufacturing plant in Canton, Miss.
“We had new products, a new plant and new suppliers” that combined to create noise and paint-finish problems that vexed vehicle buyers, said Jed Connelly, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Gardena-based Nissan.
Nissan’s scores in the closely watched Initial Quality Study published each year by J.D. Power & Associates dropped sharply for 2003. The company sent dozens of engineers to the plant to correct the problems, “and we believe we’ve remedied things,” Connelly said.
Another big gainer among Asian automakers was Suzuki Motor Corp. of Japan. Its U.S. division, Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp., saw sales increase by 26.5%.
Meanwhile, sales at Mitsubishi plummeted 37.1% for the year, and Porsche posted the best growth among European brands with a 10.7% sales increase, to 31,471 cars and SUVs.
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Shifting gears
General Motors and Ford lost market share in 2004 to the continuing import onslaught led by Japanese giant Toyota. Automakers’ sales last year, a sampling:
*--* 2004 sales % change Market Company (In thousands) from 2003 share General Motors 4,617 -1.1% 27.3% Ford Motor 3,099 -4.6 18.3 Chrysler Group 2,206 +3.7 13.0 Toyota Motor Sales 2,060 +10.4 12.2 American Honda 1,394 +3.3 8.2 Nissan North America 986 +24.1 5.8 Hyundai Motor America 419 +4.6 2.5 Mazda North America 264 +1.9 1.6 BMW 260 +8.0 1.5 Volkswagen 256 -15.4 1.5 Mercedes-Benz 221 +1.3 1.3 Mitsubishi 162 -37.1 1.0 Volvo 139 +3.5 0.8
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Source: Autodata
