Fuel-Efficiency Drives Toyota Gains
Even as U.S. gasoline prices trickled downward in August, auto buyers continued shunning big trucks in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The shift gave Toyota Motor Corp. its 15th straight month of year-over-year growth on the strength of its fuel-sipping fleet of small cars and utility vehicles, including gasoline-electric hybrids, industry data released Friday showed.
Toyota surpassed Ford Motor Co. to become the nation’s No. 2 car company in sales for the second straight month. It edged out Ford by just under 2,500 vehicles for a 16.1% share of the U.S. market in August, compared with 16% for its venerable American rival.
Toyota’s 17% gain was the biggest among the top 10 automakers. It was followed by Hyundai Motor Co. of South Korea, which rose 6%; Hyundai affiliate Kia Motors Corp., 5.4%; and market leader General Motors Corp., 3.8%.
August sales were down or flat for other major companies, led by Ford’s 11.7% decline, according to figures compiled by Autodata Inc.
Other large carmakers that reported declines in August were DaimlerChrysler’s U.S.-based Chrysler Group, down 4.2%; Honda Motor Co., 3.2%; and Nissan Motor Co., 2.7%.
Honda said its sales fell because it couldn’t build enough fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines to meet demand. Nissan and Chrysler have been hurt by a lack of fuel-efficient models in their lineups.
The August sales picture “was pretty much as expected,” said Jesse Toprak, market analyst at online automotive information service Edmunds.com in Santa Monica.
Car buyers are shopping for brands with reputations for reliability and fuel economy, Toprak said, and truck buyers are holding back because of fuel prices and a growing sense that the economy is stalling.
Overall, sales of new light trucks and passenger cars totaled 1.49 million vehicles in August, up 0.2% from a year earlier.
Sales by foreign-based automakers accounted for the growth as volume for the traditional domestic nameplates fell 3.2% in August. Asian automakers posted a collective 5.7% gain. European brands, including those owned by GM and Ford, were down 3.1%.
In addition to boosting sales in August, GM saw its market share rise to 24.2%, up almost a full point from a year earlier.
The truck category -- pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans -- lost ground and passenger cars gained.
Despite a 2.3% drop in sales of trucks from a year earlier, they continued to outsell cars with 51.6% of the market. That’s a testament to the growing popularity of car-based crossover utility vehicles, such as GM’s Chevrolet HHR and Toyota’s RAV4, which are classified as trucks.
Ford took the hardest blow in August.
The company’s mid-size Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ sedans, introduced several months ago, are selling well, as is its Mustang sports coupe. But that wasn’t enough to offset the 21.5% drop in Ford’s truck division.
GM has been helped this year by the redesign of its large SUVs. Although sales of big trucks are down sharply, GM’s models have done relatively well because their styling has attracted buyers who see little else in the segment to get excited about.
Still, bowing to the drift from trucks, GM said Friday it would cut North American production 12% in the fourth quarter.
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The top 10
Toyota sales rose 17% in August as buyers turned to more fuel-efficient cars.
*--* August sales %change YTD (in thousands from year market of units) earlier share GM 360.4 +3.8% 24.5% Toyota 240.2 +17.0% 15.0 Ford 237.7 -11.7% 16.8 Chrysler Group 179.2 -4.2% 12.9 Honda 151.3 -3.2% 9.2 Nissan 89.8 -2.7 61 Hyundai 44.6 +6.0 2.9 Kia 25.1 +5.4 1.7 VW 23.4 +1.5 1.4 Mazda 22.3 +0.8 1.7
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Source: Autodata
