May Sales: Toyota up 12%, Nissan Falls 11%

[1G6]

Keep letting illegals in, keep buying your Toyotas, America.

It's a lethal recipe for a country that deserves better.

[CarShark]

Originally Posted by ponchoman49

Hard to believe people are buying the new line of ugly and bland Toyotas that seldom if ever get there advertised mileage!

You could say that about any car, but there are plenty of people that get the advertised mileage.

There are so many other choices out there, why is everybody choosing Toyota? An Altima is so much more fun to drive than a silly Camry.

No one cares whether a car is fun to drive or not, especially if they spend more time on the highway. A smooth ride is more important.

The Lucerne has many advantages over the Avalon, including apparently better quality control and better crash test results too!

But it's still a Buick, so it has a huge tick mark against it.

The Corolla is outdated, even if it is rated at 40 mpg highway which I don't believe for a second unless you drive super slow.

Again, you don't know that.

There trucks are girly machines and most real truck drivers choose a superior Silverado/Ram or F-150 over theres.

Put the machismo down for a second, will you? Anybody who uses the word "girly" like that is either a moron or 7 years old. Which applies to you?

The Highlander and there other bigger sport ute are old.

It will be 4 years for the current 4Runner (the bigger sport ute you mentioned) and the sixth for the Highlander, which won't be redesigned until 2008. This is why GM was brilliant for bringing out the GMT-900 SUVs 6 months early. They are all swimming against the tide while every other one is getting washed out to sea. Now they need that momentum to carry all the way to the fall, when the trucks come out.

Scions are dustbins with lawnmower engines!

...that happen to attract young people to cure the old person stigma. The fact that older people buy them as well is just a happy coincidence.

The ladybug/slug like Yaris is getting very lukewarm reviews from what I have seen. Honestly I just don't see why Toyota is doing so good.

Of course you don't. You're a lead-footed RWD, V-8 American car lover. Why the hell would you understand why someone would like a small, front-drive, 4-cylinder Japanese car? They make cars contrary to what you like that sell well, and I hate to be the one to tell you this...again...but you are vastly in the minority when it comes to many things car-wise. Transmissions, engines, interiors, exteriors, etc.

[bhoppes]

Originally Posted by 5 watt

Old but the mpg king of conventional gas cars.

If only the cobalt got 40mpg

If the truth is known, the Corolla only get the same as the Chevy. I remember reading an article on how foriegn cars exagerate heavily their mpg ratings and domestic car makers don't hardly exagerate at all. I think this is one of those cases.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by bhoppes

If the truth is known, the Corolla only get the same as the Chevy. I remember reading an article on how foriegn cars exagerate heavily their mpg ratings and domestic car makers don't hardly exagerate at all. I think this is one of those cases.

They can't do this. There is a set government course (done on a treadmill) that they have to run. It's the same for every car. Now, one can engineer the car around the government test as opposed to real world conditions, but that's not "exaggerating", really, and I have no idea if Toyota does that more than GM does, and neither do you.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by bhoppes

If the truth is known, the Corolla only get the same as the Chevy. I remember reading an article on how foriegn cars exagerate heavily their mpg ratings and domestic car makers don't hardly exagerate at all. I think this is one of those cases.

Got a link to that article? I don't see how this is possible since the EPA verifies the test data. The point of the fuel economy numbers on the window stickers is not that the average driver will get that kind of mileage, but that the tests were done under the same conditions for all vehicles, making comparisons between vehicles valid. So if the Honda says 35 mpg and the Chevy says 31 mpg, they may get 28 and 24 in the real world, but what matters is that under the same circumstances, the Honda (in that example) got more.

Back to the sales results...anyone know where we can get a model-by-model breakdown of Nissan sales? I like my Nissan Pathfinder a lot, but I dislike the arrogance of Carlos Ghosn, and would like to see where the Nissan-brand sales decline is coming from. I seem to recall him saying that the falling sales at the end of 2005 were an anomaly due to x and y (whatever x and y were), and that 2006 would again see increased sales. Looks like we're not seeing that here...

[racy]

Jeez, them Toyota guys are relentless. Article after article talks about the downswing in auto sales this year. Apparently Toyota hasn't read any of these articles.

And if that weren't bad enough, not only is Toyota the only one making positive sales, but they're breaking records.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by boblutzfan

While Toyota continues its love fest with the American buyer - they are slowly falling victim to the very thing that killed Oldsmobile, Plymouth and that almost killed Buick and Lincoln - old age. The demographics are showing that slowly the Camry is becoming an old persons car like Buick used to be (and still is to a certain extent). This is where GM needs to attack. Start selling high tech well made vehicles in every segment and win over the current generation that wouldn't be caught dead driving a car like their "old foggy dad" who is now 50 and on his third Camry.

They know that Toyota has a problem amoungst the youth-why do you think they came out with the Scion line? In any case, I don't see why selling cars to old people is a problem. Old people usually have more money than young people. Buick, for one, should embrace it's old people rep, IMHO.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by racy

Jeez, them Toyota guys are relentless. Article after article talks about the downswing in auto sales this year. Apparently Toyota hasn't read any of these articles.

And if that weren't bad enough, not only is Toyota the only one making positive sales, but they're breaking records.

Right now, Toyota is limited more by capacity than sales-that is, demand is higher than supply on many of thier models.

Another thing to note is that last year, when GM, Ford, and Chrysler did thier employee pricing gimmick which boosted thier sales, Toyota did nothing to match it-and thier sales were up anyways. So thier sales gains are real, and not based on depressed numbers from those sales. The two markets are almost completely seperate-very few Toyota buyers cross shop with GM, and a lot of ex-GM buyers are now buying Toyotas. A Toyota buyer may cross shop with Honda, or even Subaru or Mazda or Hyundai or VW, but not GM or Ford. All the employee pricing gimmick did was cause people who were thinking about buying a GM in December 05 to buy it in May 05 at a lower price.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by 69Firebird400

Back to the sales results...anyone know where we can get a model-by-model breakdown of Nissan sales?

http://www.nissannews.com/corporate/...01094745.shtml

[ZOOMY]

Originally Posted by bhoppes

If the truth is known, the Corolla only get the same as the Chevy. I remember reading an article on how foriegn cars exagerate heavily their mpg ratings and domestic car makers don't hardly exagerate at all. I think this is one of those cases.

I had a Cobalt as a rental which was rated at 32MPG on the highway and I was getting around 34MPG with it, and it would still do 0-60 in 7.7 seconds, not too bad for an econobox. I thought it was the perfect balance between mileage and power.

[fkh1]

you guys got to remember, and i have to look it up but nissan has been hammered by quality problems with the altima and the canton plant products, i have always thought of nissian as the chrsyler of the big 3 japanese..i have friends and family who own nissians and wouldnt recommend them based on problems with reliabilty..just go to edmunds...the cars are **************** sure fun to drive but...after that warrantee runs out...watch out...just like vw in the late 90's...now hopefully there new lines coming have resolved those issues.

[zaxxis]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

http://www.nissannews.com/corporate/...01094745.shtml

Wow. Only FOUR vehicles increased over last year and all but two are double digit drops. Nissan has to be a little bit worried -- especially considering they are moving their NA headquarters to Nashville and losing 50%+ of their workers. Has the Magic worn off?

At least GM can blame some of their decreased sales on their employee purchase program that was going on last year.

-Z

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by zaxxis

Wow. Only FOUR vehicles increased over last year and all but two are double digit drops. Nissan has to be a little bit worried -- especially considering they are moving their NA headquarters to Nashville and losing 50%+ of their workers. Has the Magic worn off?

At least GM can blame some of their decreased sales on their employee purchase program that was going on last year.

-Z

Yeah, not looking great for Nissan. The Armada and Quest have stunk all year, and although a revised interior is in store for the Quest for MY 2007, they're otherwise stuck with it for a few more years. The FX's sales are kind of disappointing. The Altima is on its way out, so they probably don't need to be concerned about that, same as the G35. I sure don't call a 5.6% sales increase for the QX56 "strong sales momentum," since it's down 15.2% on the year.

The Q45 might as well be discontinued...50.5% drop for the year with only 45 units moved in May? I can't even remember the last time I saw one of those when I was somewhere other than an auto show.

PS - Thanks to Geotpf for the link to the model by model Nissan sales results. I couldn't find it on my own earlier!

Actually Employee Discount for Everyone only began in June 2005, so the UGLY year over year comparisons won't begin for the Big 3 until the end of this month. Plus, I think the beginning of that promotion took some sales away from the import brands that didn't participate, so their year over year comparisons may look artificially favorable. Ugh.

[ScottS]

What's the lesson here? Toyota, despite a few recent headaches, can still sell a bunch of cars due to a reputation built over the last 20+ years. Anyone here who thinks they can reverse 20 years of history basesd on 1-2 years of recent comparisons is nuts. This is why GM has to focus on getting things right the first time, and doing so consistently.

[MNdudeswitz]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

Right now, Toyota is limited more by capacity than sales-that is, demand is higher than supply on many of thier models.

Another thing to note is that last year, when GM, Ford, and Chrysler did thier employee pricing gimmick which boosted thier sales, Toyota did nothing to match it-and thier sales were up anyways. So thier sales gains are real, and not based on depressed numbers from those sales. The two markets are almost completely seperate-very few Toyota buyers cross shop with GM, and a lot of ex-GM buyers are now buying Toyotas. A Toyota buyer may cross shop with Honda, or even Subaru or Mazda or Hyundai or VW, but not GM or Ford. All the employee pricing gimmick did was cause people who were thinking about buying a GM in December 05 to buy it in May 05 at a lower price.

Bingo!