Toyota Is No. 2 Over Ford; Toyota-Chevy Battle for Brand Leadership
January 03, 2008
Toyota Motor Corp. overtook Ford Motor Co. to become the No. 2 automaker based on U.S. sales for 2007. Ford held the No. 2 spot behind General Motors for 75 years.
The battle for brand leadership between Toyota and Chevrolet is muddied -- but close and intense.
If sales from Scion, sold through Toyota Division showrooms, are included in 2007 sales totals, Toyota wins over Chevrolet for the first time as the top-selling brand in the U.S.
Take out Scion, however, and Chevy holds onto the top spot, but by a narrow margin -- one that has been narrowing in recent years.
Here's the scorecard based on Edmunds.com's calculations:
Ford Motor Co. vs. Toyota Motor Sales - 2007
Total Ford* 2,572,599
Total Toyota 2,620,644
Toyota vs. Ford difference 48,045
(Ford figures include heavy trucks, which Toyota does not sell; Toyota figures include Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands)
Toyota Division vs. Chevrolet Division - 2007
Chevrolet 2,265,641
Toyota (with Scion) 2,291,648
Toyota (minus Scion) 2,161,467
Chevy vs. Toyota w/Scion difference 26,007
Chevy vs. Toyota w/out Scion difference 104,174
Scion sales in 2007 totaled 130,181
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:55 AM under Analysis , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Ford Motor Co. as in just ford, or counting sales from volvo, mazda, etc.?
and I'm guessing this means that GM as a whole is still beating toyota by a bit since they have other brands that they own but aren't a part of chevrolet?
Posted by: Mark Chen | January 03, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Mark - GM is thrashing Toyota if you include all their brands such as Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, GMC, Cadillac, Saab and Hummer. Toyota are nowhere near beating GM in the US market.
Posted by: Guy Atherton | January 03, 2008 at 3:58 PM
To set the record straight, GM sold 3.87 million vehicles in 2007. That compares to Toyota's 2.6 million. Yes, Toyota has a long way to go to catch up to GM in the U.S., at least.
Posted by: Michelle Krebs | January 03, 2008 at 4:33 PM