Toyota records 1st sales increase in 9 months
Tokyo, Oct 29 (efe-epa).- Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. announced Thursday that in September both sales and production of its vehicles increased compared to the same month of 2019, the first increase in both data in nine months.
Like other companies in the sector, Toyota suffered a drop in global sales due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also affected its production and generated a buildup in inventories.
“Even in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, which broke out early this year, Toyota has maintained corporate activities by implementing comprehensive measures to prevent infection and working in close cooperation with business partners including suppliers and dealers,” Toyota said in a statement.
“In addition to these measures, Toyota has enjoyed the support of customers around the world who use Toyota vehicles, and as a result, in September both global sales and global production recovered and exceeded the previous year’s levels,” it added.
Last month Toyota placed 837,049 vehicles worldwide, 1.9 percent more than in September 2019, although if those of the Daihatsu and Hino brands, which are more focused on the local market, are included, there were a total of 916,407, 0.8 percent less than in the same month last year.
In terms of production, there was an increase both in the Toyota brand (+11.7 percent) and in the group as a whole (+7.6 percent), indicating a trend towards recovery in the sector after the heavy impact suffered in the first months of the pandemic.
Both the level of sales and production registered in September implied new monthly records for the company.
Although there has been a recovery in Toyota vehicle sales globally, within Japan the firm continues to record setbacks, with a slump that has lasted for 12 months.
While global sales were up 2 percent year-on-year, in terms of sales by region, in its main market, the United States, Toyota had a 16.2 percent year-on-year increase in September to 197,124 vehicles, and in China they grew 25.3 percent to 179,353 units.
In the US, the production of Toyota-branded vehicles grew 12.2 percent and in China it rose 48.5 percent. EFE-EPA
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