Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, reported U.S. sales declines for December and 2010 as the lingering impact of record recalls aided deliveries at smaller rivals including Hyundai Motor Co., reported Bloomberg.
The Japanese automaker’s sales fell 5.5 percent last month and 0.4 percent for the year, while industrywide December deliveries advanced 11 percent, according to Autodata Corp. Hyundai posted a 33 percent December gain and a full-year increase of 24 percent to a record 538,228 vehicles. Monthly sales rose 21 percent at Honda Motor Co. and 28 percent at Nissan Motor Co.
Toyota called back millions of U.S. vehicles last year, most for defects related to unintended acceleration, and paid a record $48.8 million in fines for how some of the recalls were conducted. The company temporarily halted U.S. production and sales of eight models, including its top-selling Camry and Corolla cars, in January to fix the flaws.
“The black clouds from Toyota’s recalls just don’t seem to go away,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends for Santa Monica, California-based auto pricing website Truecar.com. “Hyundai, along with Ford, were the standouts.”
Toyota was expected to report a decline of as much as 10 percent for December, the average of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.
‘Coming Back Significantly’
The Toyota City, Japan-based carmaker rose 0.9 percent to close at 3,295 yen as of the 3 p.m. close of Tokyo trading. Hyundai rose 6.2 percent in Seoul.
As Toyota worked to restore its image, Hyundai, Nissan and U.S. rivals Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. lured buyers with new models. Ford regained the No. 2 sales spot from Toyota for the year.
“This is a market that’s coming back significantly,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at IHS Automotive, a research firm based in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Industrywide sales rose to 1.14 million in December from 1.03 million a year earlier, Autodata said yesterday. The annual total increased to 11.6 million cars and light trucks from 10.4 million in 2009, according to the research firm.
Asia-based brands accounted for 46.5 percent of U.S. sales in December, an increase from 45.7 percent a year earlier, Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata said. Toyota’s sales decline pulled down full-year market share for the Japanese and South Korean carmakers to 46.3 percent, from 47.4 percent.
Among U.S.-based companies, December sales grew 7.5 percent at GM, 3.5 percent at Ford and 16 percent for Chrysler Group LLC.
‘Challenging Year’
“We’re coming off what was arguably the most challenging time in our 53-year history,” Don Esmond, Toyota’s senior vice president for U.S. sales, said on a conference call yesterday.
The company’s market-share decline of 1.8 percentage points was the industry’s biggest, according to Autodata.
For Toyota, “you simply can’t ignore the impact on their sales the recalls had in 2010,” said Aaron Bragman, an analyst at IHS Automotive. “It’s not hard to figure out why Camry was down and Hyundai’s Sonata was up: It looks better, has a better warranty. Style-wise, it really stands out in the segment.”
Toyota sold 177,488 vehicles last month and 1.76 million for the year, down from 1.77 million in 2009. The decline came from lower volume for midsize Camry and compact Corolla cars. Toyota’s top-sellers had respective annual declines of 8 percent and 6 percent. Prius sales surged 33 percent last month, pushing annual deliveries of the hybrid model up 0.9 percent to 140,928.
‘11-Month Year’
“Let’s not forget that 2010 was essentially an 11-month year for us, as we stopped sales and production last January on some of our core models to focus all of our company’s efforts on servicing customer vehicles,” Esmond said.
The Camry remained the top-selling passenger car in the U.S., and Lexus retained the luxury-segment lead for an 11th consecutive year.
U.S. auto sales may rise to 12.5 million this year, 7.8 percent more than 2010’s tally, Esmond said. “And at Toyota, we expect to outperform the industry,” he said.
Honda, Japan’s second-biggest automaker, sold 129,616 Honda and Acura-brand vehicles in December and 1.23 million for the year, a 6.9 percent increase. The company’s compact CR-V remained the top-selling U.S. model in the sport-utility vehicle/crossover segment last year, with 203,714 deliveries.
Honda, Nissan
Market share for Honda, fourth in the U.S. behind GM, Ford and Toyota, was 11.3 percent in December, up 0.9 percentage point from a year ago, according to Autodata. The Tokyo-based company’s share fell 0.4 percentage point to 10.6 percent last year.
Nissan, the third-largest Japanese automaker, delivered 93,730 cars and light trucks in December, including 19 all- electric Leaf hatchbacks. The Yokohama-based company’s deliveries grew 18 percent to 908,570 last year.
“This is the third straight month the industry selling rate is at 12 million units, so we’re recovering,” said Al Castignetti, U.S. vice president of sales for Nissan. “In 2011 I don’t think we’ll have a rapid recovery in sales, but it will be a steady recovery.”
Nissan’s market share rose to 8.2 percent last month, from 7.1 percent, and increased 0.4 percentage points to 7.8 percent in 2010.
Hyundai Sonata
Hyundai’s December sales growth was led by the Sonata sedan, which rose 52 percent, and a 127 percent increase for the Elantra small car. Its annual sales of 538,228 vehicles compared with 435,064 a year ago.
Hyundai’s annual market share rose 0.4 percentage point to 4.6 percent.
Hyundai did “everything right last year,” Bragman said. “It’s not just marketing. The quality of the products has gone up dramatically, and people are becoming aware of that.”
Kia Motors Corp., Hyundai’s affiliate, reported a 45 percent increase in December and a 19 percent gain to a record 356,268 in 2010.
Among other brands, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Subaru raised sales 16 percent in December and 22 percent for the year. Mazda Motor Corp. said U.S. sales grew 18 percent last month and 10 percent for the year.
