Sales of the new Toyota Tundra were up sharply in April, but the company has to pick up the sales pace if it wants to meet its goal of selling 200,000 trucks in 2007.
Toyota sold 14,200 Tundras in April, up 74 percent compared with April 2006. But analysts said it's hard to compare sales of this new model with last year's model, which was being discontinued.
Tundras were the brightest spot for Toyota in a month with few bright spots for any automaker, as the industry coped with waning consumer confidence and higher gasoline prices.
With an increase of 3.7 percent, April was Toyota's first month of single-digit sales growth since August 2004. Toyota would have had its first sales decline since May 2005 if the sales had not been adjusted for fewer selling days this April versus April 2006.
"We think some consumers have a wait-and-see attitude," said Ernest Bastien, vice president of vehicle operations for Toyota Motor Sales USA.
"Our stores have had relatively high levels of traffic. Economic conditions are favorable other than gas prices and housing. There's tentativeness among consumers."
It seemed like nearly every manufacturer was dealing with buyer reluctance with the exception of DaimlerChrysler, which had a 2 percent sales increase. Sales were up 10 percent when adjusted for fewer selling days this April.
"We've had a good month here," DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman Lori McTavish. said. She mentioned the success of products such as the Chrysler Town & Country minivan and the Pacifica crossover vehicle, as well as the redesigned Jeep Wrangler. "We're pleased with the products we're launching," she said. "We have a really good incentive program."
Chrysler offered the most incentives of any automaker in April, with an average of $3,994 per vehicle. That's down from the $4,237 it offered in March and up from the $3,542 it offered in April 2006, according to the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.
Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for Edmunds.com, said Chrysler's April success couldn't be solely credited to incentives. The company offered more money last month, but it didn't result in more sales. Toprak said he thinks sales to rental fleets helped Chrysler's monthly sales figures.
"Chrysler's production and their current inventory levels have not quite matched up with actual consumer demand," Toprak said. "They have a lot more inventory that they have to get rid of. Since the retail market is so soft, they have to sell to fleets."
General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have been curbing their sales to rental fleets, which has resulted in flat to declining sales. But the sales prices aren't as deeply discounted as sales to rental fleets, so the companies' profitability should increase.
GM's retail sales were up 3.6 percent, while sales to rental fleets were down 36 percent. The company's overall sales were down 2.2 percent when adjusted for the shorter month. GMC, GM's truck division, and Saturn led the way in sales for the automaker. GMC sales were up 16.7 percent while Saturn's sales were up 28.5 percent.
"Americans don't like cars," said Rebecca Lindland, auto industry analyst for the forecasting firm Global Insight. "As long as the government lets us, we're going to buy trucks. Until they tax us to the point where we cry uncle ... we're going to buy SUVs, pickup trucks and touring wagons."
America's love for trucks didn't help Ford, which saw its sales dip 13 percent for the month. Sales of the F-series pickups, Ford's best-selling brand, were down 12.4 percent.
Even Honda, one of the top-selling Japanese nameplates, saw its sales fall 1.6 percent in April. Unadjusted sales were down 9.1 percent. Honda's fuel-efficient Civic was down 6.7 percent while the Accord was down 8.5 percent.
Nissan joined in the woes of Asian automakers with its sales down 11.1 percent. Nissan North America's Infiniti division had a 12 percent sales increase.