Toyota’s US sales crunched 19 per cent

DETROIT’S comeback kids – Ford and General Motors – came storming up the sales charts in January, mainly at the expense of Japanese rival Toyota.

While overall light-vehicle sales in the United States were up six per cent on the same month last year as the US market recovery continued, Toyota sales plunged 19 per cent last month – even before the full heat of the safety recall hit the world’s biggest motor company, stalling sales of some of its biggest sellers in North America.

Toyota’s February sales are expected to be blighted even further as the sales freeze over sticky accelerator pedals on models such as the Camry and Tundra takes effect – a problem that has tempted rivals to sink the slipper by offering trade-in incentives to disgruntled Toyota vehicle owners.

Ford, on the other hand, enjoyed a whopping 24 per cent sales gain over the first month of 2009, while GM sales were up 14 per cent – despite the loss of the defunct Saturn and Pontiac models from the line-up.

The reinvigorated GM – which had been under threat from Toyota as America’s top vehicle seller this time last year as it stared down the barrel of bankruptcy – comfortably held on to its crown in January, selling 146,315 units.

If sales of GM’s ‘core models’ – Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac – are considered alone, the rise was more like 30 per cent.

Left: Chev Equinox. Below: Ford Taurus.

GM’s sales gains have been driven by its fresh crossover-vehicle range, especially the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain and Cadillac SRX – a selection that GM claims gives it the biggest slice of the crossover market in the US.

Ford sailed past Toyota into second place as it continued its rampage up the sales ladder on the back of its popular Fusion and Taurus passenger cars and revitalised F-Series trucks, dishing out 116,277 vehicles for the month.

Despite a five per cent rise in Lexus volumes, Toyota Group sales nevertheless slid 16 per cent to 98,796 sales – 8491 fewer than last year – and third place, while fourth-placed Honda/Acura slumped five per cent to 67,479 sales.

Chrysler continued to struggle, proving that the recovery of Detroit’s ‘Big Three’ is more like ‘Big Two’. Sales of the Fiat-controlled bankrupt car-maker’s vehicles were down a further eight per cent, to 57,142 units, placing it in a lowly sixth place, behind Nissan (up 16 per cent, 62,572).

Hyundai continued its inexorable rise up the sales ranks with a 24 per cent increase in showroom volumes, to 30,503 units, driven by the arrival of the new Tucson. With the arrival of the new Sonata this month, the growth of the Korean company in North America is not expected to slow anytime soon.

When combined with its stablemate Kia, the Hyundai group is now America’s seventh largest car company, selling a combined 52,626 vehicles in January.

Another of the world’s growth companies, Volkswagen, sold 40 per cent more vehicles in the US last month, up to 24,614, while its fellow German operation Mercedes-Benz also picked up sales to the tune of 26 per cent, to 15,447 units.

Subaru’s new Outback and Legacy (Liberty) ranges continue to do the small Japanese company proud, lifting combined sales by 28 per cent, to 15,611 units.

Overall, US light-vehicles sales were up six per cent to a smidge under 700,000 units, putting the American market on target to top 10 million units this year.