New Car Scoop

Yesterday Toyota released their November sales numbers. As you can expect, most models were down heavily in sales from a year ago. However, one in particular stood out as decidedly up, the Toyota Sequoia which was up in sales by over 50% (1,873 in 2008 vs 1,233 in 2007). On a year-to-date scale, the numbers look a little better for the rest of the brand. Yaris sales are up over 23%, the Scion xB has seen almost a 3% gain and Scion xD has seen a vast 186% sales increase vs. the same time in 2007 (though there were only 9300 sold by this time last year due to it being a new model). Land Cruisers and Sequoia were both up around 36% since last year and even at that time they saw significant sales numbers. In total, Toyota has seen a 8.4% drop in new car sales compared to the same time last year. Considering the doom and gloom GM, Chrysler and Ford are espousing, you’d think it’s the end of the world. However, Toyota’s innovative production facilities, excellent product offerings and excellent quality (not to mention their lack of labor and pension overhead) have kept them chugging along at a steady pace only slowing down because of the consumer’s lack of cash. However, their range of inexpensive Scions, Yarises and other sub-compact cars have kept American’s hankering for a new car well supplied.

Source: Toyota