Although U.S. pickup truck sales are down in 2008, Robert Carter is confident in a market stabilization with pickup-truck sales rebounding. As general manager of Toyota Division at Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc., Carter expects sales for full-size pickup trucks to total 1.45 million in 2008. The figure is a big difference from the sales total in 2007, which came to 2.14 million, but Carter is assured the market recovery will happen.
He states, "We've reduced production. It's our intention to build to the market. But when that market comes back, the core buyer who uses the truck for employment, who uses it for work, whether it's the landscaping company or the contractor, can't substitute a Corolla or a Yaris." At the same time, he says he's not sure what will happen to the "recreational user." Carter is unfazed, though, because the "recreational user" is not a core part of the market for full-size pickups. The "recreational user" includes the weekend warrior who uses his pickup to tow a boat or transport a grill from Home Depot.
As the demand for Toyota's small cars has skyrocketed this year, its inventories have been reduced to basically nothing. At the same time, sales have been weighed down by weak demand for light trucks. Due to manufacturing constraints, Toyota is unable to meet consumer demand for its small cars, yet it has plenty of trucks waiting to be sold. Carter shed more light on the situation: "Unfortunately from a sales perspective, we sold the inventories down to nearly zero. In the short term, after having that kind of increase last year and a big increase the year before that, we're restricted on capacity and components."
Source: Automotive News (subscription required)