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Prius sales up 16% in March; 3rd Most Popular Toyota vehicle behind Camry & Corolla

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Danny, Apr 1, 2008.

  1. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    Toyota Motor Sales saw a 3.4% overall decrease in sales in March 2008 compared to March 2007, but Prius sales remained strong with a 16% increase compared to last March. The Prius is the 3rd most popular Toyota product behind the Camry & Corolla (though it's getting closer to the Corolla!)

    PRIUS
    • March 2008
      • 20,635
    • March 2007
      • 19,156
    • YTD 2008
      • 42,907
    • YTD 2007
      • 39,682
    Full article care of Toyota:
    Toyota Reports March Sales

    April 1, 2008 - Torrance, CA - Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., today reported March sales of 217,730 vehicles, a decrease of 3.4 percent from last March.
    The Toyota Division posted March sales of 192,791, a decrease of 2.9 percent from last March. The Lexus Division reported March sales of 24,939 units, a decrease of 6.9 percent from the year-ago month.
    Toyota Division
    Toyota Division passenger cars recorded March sales of 114,897 units, up 1.5 percent from last March. Passenger-car sales were led by Camry, which posted best-ever March sales of 40,487, an increase of 3.2 percent over the same period last year. Camry Hybrid reported sales of 6,930 units in March, up 45 percent over March 2007. The Prius hybrid gas-electric mid-size sedan posted best-ever March sales of 20,635, an increase of 16.0 percent from last March. Yaris reported all-time best-ever sales of 12,953 units, up 83.2 percent over the year-ago month.
    Toyota Division light truck sales were down 8.8 percent, with March sales of 77,894 units. Light truck sales were led by the Tacoma mid-size pickup, reporting March sales of 15,587 units. The Tundra full-size pickup posted best-ever March sales of 14,311, an increase of 16.8 percent over last March. Highlander and Highlander Hybrid posted combined sales of 10,832 in March. The Highlander Hybrid gas-electric mid-size SUV reported sales of 2,239 units for the month. Sequoia posted sales of 2,856 units for the month, up 19.8 percent over the same period last year.
    Scion posted March sales of 11,131 units. The xB urban utility vehicle led the way with March sales of 4,527 units, an increase of 74.2 percent over last March. The tC sports coupe, in its fourth model year, posted March sales of 4,082 units.
    Lexus Division
    Lexus passenger cars reported March sales of 14,881 units, a decrease of 11.6 percent from March 2007. Passenger-car sales were led by the ES entry luxury sedan with March sales of 6,019 units. The IS entry luxury sport sedan reported combined sales of 4,798 units, an increase of 1.8 percent over last March. Sales of the all-new IS F luxury performance sedan were 323 units. The LS flagship luxury sedan reported combined sales of 2,125 units. The LS 600h L hybrid luxury sedan posted sales of 113 units for the month. Sales of the GS 460 luxury sport sedan reported a greater than ten-fold increase as compared to the GS 430 in March 2006.
    Lexus Division light trucks reported March sales totaling 10,058 units, an increase of one percent from the year-ago month. The all-new LX 570 enjoyed sales of 642 units, an increase of 156.1 percent. The RX luxury utility vehicle posted combined March sales of 7,737 units. The RX 400h hybrid luxury utility vehicle reported sales of 1,570 units for the month, up 15.0 percent over the year ago month.
    TMS Hybrids
    TMS calendar-year-to-date hybrid sales totaled 50,204 units. TMS posted March sales of 31,552 hybrid vehicles, an increase of 19 percent from last March. Toyota Division posted sales of 29,804 hybrids while Lexus Division posted sales of 1,748 hybrids.
    There were 26 selling days this month, as compared to 28 selling days last March.
     
  2. morpheusx

    morpheusx Professor Chaos

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    It looks like the numbers are off or misleading, this looks more like an 8 % increase.
     
  3. Winston

    Winston Member

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    Yes, how do they get 16%?
     
  4. KandyRedCoi

    KandyRedCoi S is for Super!

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    reagrdless, it was gonna happen, esp. since gas prices are only gonna get more expen$ive

    not surprised, that will increase a lot by the end of the year
     
  5. dipper

    dipper Senior Member

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    This is the outcome of bad education (or should I say... ed.u.ma.ca.tion) in America. And math is one of the worst for developed countries.
     
  6. sl7vk

    sl7vk Member

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    Actually you're all wrong. There was something like 2 or 3 less selling days in March this year versus last. Toyota, GM, and most others give a prorated number for the number of selling days.... Hence the difference in math.
     
  7. dipper

    dipper Senior Member

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    Less selling days? Please explain? I thought dealers always opens, and March always have 31 days.
     
  8. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I should never claim to know everything - or much for that matter - but in Illinois you can't sell cars on Sunday. March 2007 had 4 Sundays whereas March 2008 had 5. That's one less day there. I don't know the second.
     
  9. sl7vk

    sl7vk Member

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    Read this article if you want....

    US March Auto Sales Drop, GM Off 13% - Automotive * US * News * Story - MSNBC.com
     
  10. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    As the price of gas goes up, so goes the Prius sales.
     
  11. Winston

    Winston Member

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    I think current gas prices are like the stock market of '29. The shoe shine boy is sure that gas prices will continue to go up. That is what prompted Rockefeller to sell before the crash...

    I think this $4 gas is a temporary thing. I predict gas will be well below $3 in a year. There is no justification for the current high prices other than the fact that our beloved presidents behavior is completely unpredictable by Wall Street and the futures markets.
     
  12. drees

    drees Senior Member

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    Wishful thinking - China and India are significantly increasing their demand for crude oil. I don't see that slowing down any time soon even though US oil demand has fallen slightly do to the sudden rise in gas prices and weakening economy.

    If demand for oil in the US hadn't softened, I think it'd be at least 25c/gal higher right now.
     
  13. HardCase

    HardCase SilverPineMica, the green one

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    'fraid I gotta agree with drees on this one. Short of some sort of catastrophic and worldwide economic recession or depression (the current one is about a 2 on a 1 to 10 scale) the price of gas will continue to increase inexorably. Decreasing supplies/increasing demand=higher prices, pretty simple stuff. I'm hoping I'm wrong here, but I suspect we'll see $4 gas within the year, $5 within two.
     
  14. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    Can you sell cars over easter? Good Friday? Easter was in April last year wasn't it?

    This from Australia vehicle sales distorted by early Easter- International Business-News-The Economic Times
    SYDNEY: New vehicle sales in Australia fell 3.3 per cent in March over the same month last year but the result was depressed by the early timing of the Easter holidays, the Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said on Thursday.

    March this year had three less selling days than March in 2007 and if taken into account, sales per day were actually 9.0 per cent higher than the same month last year. In original terms, sales rose 1.5 per cent in March compared to February.
     
  15. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    The only downside to this, other than the fact that americans
    seem confident they can buy their way out of wasteful behavior,
    is that Priuses may become more frequent theft targets.
    .
    _H*