Toyota`s U.S. New Vehicle Sales Slump in Oct.

New York, Nov. 4 (Jiji Press)--Leading Japanese automaker Toyota
Motor Corp. <7203> saw its new automobile sales in the United States fall
year on year in October despite a continued recovery of the overall market,
industry data showed Wednesday.
Industry-wide sales of new cars and light trucks rose 13.4 pct from
a year before to 950,165 units thanks chiefly to steady demand for pickup
trucks, U.S. research firm Autodata Corp. said. Month on month, sales fell
0.9 pct.
At Toyota, sales were down 4.4 pct at 145,474 units because of weak
sales of its mainstay Camry and Corolla cars.
By contrast, industry leader General Motors Co.'s sales grew 4.2
pct to 183,543 units as robust sales of pickup trucks and sport-utility
vehicles more than offset a slump in passenger car sales.
Ford Motor Co. saw its sales increase 19.3 pct to 157,650 units,
and sales at Chrysler Group LLC surged 37.0 pct to 90,137 units.
Among Japanese makers other than Toyota, sales increased 15.6 pct
to 98,811 units at Honda Motor Co. <7267> and 16.1 pct to 69,773 units at
Nissan Motor Co. <7201>.
GM remained the top player in October with a market share of 19.3
pct, followed by Ford with 16.6 pct and Toyota with 15.3 pct.
Honda overtook Chrysler to rank fourth with a 10.4 pct share.
Chrysler came fifth with a share of 9.5 pct and Nissan sixth with 7.3 pct.