Toyota May Downgrade U.S. Sales Forecast
June 02, 2008
On the eve of reporting May sales, Toyota is considering downgrading its 2008 U.S. sales forecast even further to account for deteriorating sales of pickup trucks and other large vehicles.
Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe to London's Financial Times, in an interview published in Monday's edition, that while the automaker hoped to make up for the lost sales of its full-size Tundra pickup and sport utilities like its Toyota Sequoia by selling more smaller cars such as its Yaris, Corolla and Prius, he was "not sure" this would be enough to offset the drop in large vehicle sales.
"As of now we haven't changed our original annual plan yet, but we may have to scale back," Watanabe told the Financial Times. He said Toyota would revisit its U.S. forecast at a mid-year business review later this month.
When Toyota and other automakers report May vehicle sales Tuesday, Toyota, including its Lexus division, is expected to post sales about 3 percent lower than May but up nearly 20 percent from April, according to a forecast by Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver. Edmunds.com's forecast calls for record market share for Toyota in May.
The entire industry is expected to show another down month from a year ago, though improved from dismal April.
Still, with sales of the Toyota Tundra, down 6 percent through April, the automaker has slowed production at its Indiana and Texas plants in an effort to respond to slower sales "without affecting the headcount," Watanabe told the Financial Times. Toyota also has delayed the opening of a new Mississippi plant to make the Highlander SUV by several months.
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