Toyota Up 26 percent in July – Ford, GM Down, Blame Fleet Sales

Half-way through the year of the Tsunami comeback, Toyota has once again posted a large sales increase – 26 percent. Meanwhile, July wasn’t friendly to both Ford and General Motors who say a lack of fleet sales contributed to lower than expected sales.

Toyota kept the momentum going with another strong month meanwhile Ford and GM were down. They blamed a lack of fleet sales.

Toyota, recovering from the dismal 2011, saw its U.S. sales grow 26 percent in July. This is primarily due to increased inventory on car lots and having some of the top models in different market segments. Also newsworthy to note, Toyota set a Average Transaction Prices — ATP (the price the typical customer pays) record in July as well according to  TrueCar.com. This is due in large part to the lack of incentives being offered to new car buyers.

On the other hand, both Ford and GM say that their sales dipped in July and both blame slowing fleet sales. Ford Fleet sales were down 16 percent with total sales falling 3.8 percent. The Ford F-150 had mixed results with only a .04 gain which technically gives Ford some bragging rights due to being the 12th month in a row of having a sales increase.

General Motors was down even more with a 6.4 percent loss. It blames a 41 percent decrease in the amount of rental fleet sales in the month. Some industry analysts are calling foul though. They claim that GM spruced up their numbers in June when it reported fleet sales up 36 percent. The question is, how could fleet sales be up 36 percent and then down 41 percent that quickly? Analysts think GM added to the June numbers to help the 2012 quarterly earnings report.

For the record, Chrysler Group said it’s July 2012 sales grew 13 percent. The growth is attributed to new car models and passenger car sales. Plus, the Dodge Ram has a great month. Ram pickup truck sales up 17 percent; best July sales since 2007 according to a Chrysler press release. In fact, the Ram truck brand has best July sales in four years.

Tundra Sales

According to Toyota’s sales chart, the Tundra had another nice month and saw its sales continue to grow up, ending up 18.2 percent for July. The Toyota Tundra is on pace to have its best selling year since 2008 (the first year after the second-generation came out). The truck has taken off since a double-digit drop in sales in February, 2012. Since that time, sales have been up by double-digits.

For reference, the Toyota Tundra sold:

• 2011 – 82,908
• 2010 – 93,309
• 2009 – 79,385
• 2008 – 137,249

Interestingly, the Toyota Tundra was a mere 2,000 vehicles shy of out-selling the GMC Sierra in July (11,105 units).

Related Posts:

• May 2012 Toyota Tundra Sales up 88 percent!
• Toyota June 2012 Sales Boom – Continuing Trend
• The Tundra’s “Sales Failure” Story Is A Myth