Sales were down overall at every level in June for Toyota, Lexus and Scion cars and trucks in the United States. The bright spot nestled within the glum numbers was the Scion tC sports coupe, whose sales made a huge 73% leap in June compared with 2010.
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Toyota executives say their people are hanging in there and are buoyed by the fact that first-half sales for the company were down only 3.9% compared to year-ago levels, even with production hampered by the devastation that rocked Japan earlier this year.
But in recent weeks, production has ramped up and the result has been a strong influx of cars and trucks to American dealerships, providing healthy 2011 stock for showroom floors.
“We can't say enough about the remarkable efforts our team members and suppliers have made here in the U.S. and in Japan to restore production," said Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota.
"June marked a significant turning point for Toyota as sales moved up over last month. Toyota dealers now have a good supply of cars and trucks, and that selection is growing every day. Returning production and new marketing programs will put us in a great position to take advantage of the summer selling season and with an influx of new products slated this year, we're extremely optimistic about the second half of 2011."
As a niche division Scion sales are meager compared with its big brothers, Toyota and Lexus. And overall Scion sales slid 14.8% compared with June 2010 numbers, with 3,456 units sold. But the tC sports coupe (pictured) gives Scion and its parent, Toyota, something to beam about. The tC made a 73.6% gain over 2010 with 2,053 cars sold in June. The xD (575 units) xB urban utility vehicle (828) sold modestly.
Toyota sold 110,937 units in 26 days in June. The division posted June total sales of 100,164 units. Lexus Division sold 10,773 vehicles, a 37.8% downturn from June 2010.
Toyota sold 812,788 units in 152 selling days in the first half of 2011.
In June Toyota sold 51,616 cars, led by Camry and Camry Hybrid with combined sales of 21,375 units. There were 18,872 Corollas sold in June. The popular Prius hybrid posted 4,340 sales in June.
Toyota sold 48,548 trucks in June, with the Sienna minivan (9,267) and RAV4 (9,105) compact SUV the top sellers. There were 7,332 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid trucks sold in June, followed by the Tacoma mid-size pickup (8,131 units sold) and Tundra full-size pickup (6,615 sales).
Lexus, this year's J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality champion, again, sold 4,942 cars in June. The ES 350 entry luxury sedan reported sales of 2,158 units, the IS family sold 1,631 cars and the fresh CT 200h premium hybrid compact sold just 240 cars after being on the market only 4 months.
Lexus sold 5,831 utility vehicles in June: 5,141 RX models and 558 GX 460s.
You can reach TorqueNews.com's Hawke Fracassa at hawkefracassa@aol.com.
Image source: Scion
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