Toyota’s Nov Sales down 1.3%

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Toyota’s goal of selling 900,000 cars in China this year seems slightly out of reach for the world’s biggest auto producer, the Chinese market delivered 81,800 vehicles in November which was down 1.3% over the same period in November 2010. Total yearly sales for the first 11 months have reached 775,500 which was an increase of 6.7% over the same period a year earlier, 2010 total sales for Toyota China reached 846,000 cars which means that December is going to have to be a good month for Toyota if they are going to sell a further 125,000 to hit their target.

November is a traditionally poor month for car sales in China owing to the onset of colder weather across the country which leaves snow on dealerships in the north and southerners reaching for their long sleeved shirts. Toyota gained 4 months of solid growth in China from July to October with it averaging growth of 21.5% over the past four months, reasons for the downturn in sales in November could be blamed on the outgoing Camry which has just seen the introduction of the new generation model and also a facelift Toyota RAV4.