Yes, even the mighty Toyota got killed in January.
Regardless of division or model, the numbers were dismal across the board. Some highlights follow after the jump.
Although Scion was upbeat about how it fared in 2008, the start of 2009 was a little rough. The xD? Down over 40%. The xB? Down over 50%. The tC? Down nearly 60%.
Over at Toyota Division, the situation wasn't much better. Judging by the drop in Prius sales, saving the world was deemed 31.4% less important in January. Toyota's gasoline-powered economy cars didn't do much better as the Yaris plummeted over 44% while the Camry was down nearly 37%. The one bright spot? Corolla sales "only" dropped 10.8%. The trucks and SUVs took a similar beating, down 40% overall.
Lexus fared no better. Its cars were down 37.7%. The SUVs dropped 21.2% helped in part by strong sales of the RX which only slipped 7.2%.
hondacura4 says:
05:13 PM, 02/ 3/09
I dont see why this is suprising. People act like Toyota is immune to everything....then reality slaps them.
Honda was down 30.5% =(.
greenpony says:
05:53 PM, 02/ 3/09
It's like this in almost every segment of the economy. Much more so in markets with big ticket items that are emotional buys. Like cars. I'm not in that market, but we've had to lay off over 10% of our workforce and cut everyone else's hours by 30%. It's sad.
dgs4 says:
07:02 PM, 02/ 3/09
And I just got a 10% annual raise on top of my already generous salary during my annual review session today (plus an 85% bonus on top of that). Man nothing like working in the health care industry, especially during downturns like this. There is no place else I would be working right now. Auto anything would be about the farthest place I would want to be employed.
The bottom line is, nobody is going to buy cars or anything else until these freaking companies stop laying off people. Who is going to buy anything when they're afraid for their job? Businesses are crying because no one is buying their "stuff" and then in the next instance they announce massive layoff plans. "Hello, earth to American businesses, no one is going to buy until you stop firing everyone!" Talk about putting the cart before the horse.
The employment numbers have to start improving before the economy does, there is no other way.
estreka says:
08:24 PM, 02/ 3/09
Yeah, I'm in defense and I got a 3.9% raise. Still, the grass is always greener I suppose...
brn says:
01:14 PM, 02/ 4/09
In my opinion, sales were artificially high for quite a while. That has to balance out. Combine that with a recession and they all hurt.
dgs4/estreka, I need to work for companies like yours. I'm recently laid off and the market sucks.