Autoblog

Although Toyota has recently claimed the title of the World's Largest Automaker in terms of global sales, the Japanese-giant is finding out that life at the top isn't all it's cracked-up to be. While the Camry, Corolla, Yaris and Prius sedans are reportedly brisk movers, the same thing cannot be said about Toyota's line of trucks and sport utility vehicles. Toyota has cut Tundra and Sequoia production already, but dealers are still declining to purchase them, pushing the number of unclaimed units to an all-time high. Automotive News quotes an unnamed Toyota dealer as saying, "Last month, Southeast Toyota had 9,700 vehicles that had been turned down twice by dealers and are either sitting at the port or at sea. That's a significant number." Right now, Toyota/Scion has a high 58-day supply of available inventory on hand.

Some dealers, though, see the high number of available units as a blessing-in-disguise. "We've been asking for more inventory for two years and now we finally got it. This is a great opportunity. You have to take it when you can get it," says Steve Cain, general manager of Lewis Toyota-Scion in Topeka, Kansas. Regardless of your viewpoint, we expect that Toyota will align itself with market realities in order to bring production in line with actual sales sooner rather than later. In other words, if you've been in the market for a Toyota truck, chances are good you'll get a decent deal.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

In a rare move for Toyota, the auto company will be slowing production of the Tundra pickup and the Sequoia SUV due to lagging sales. Last year, Toyota sold 196,555 Tundra's, which was just a bit shy of their stated goal of 200,000. Still, it was enough to make the Tundra the fourth-best-selling truck in America, and very close to the GMC Sierra at third. Significantly, those 196,555 sales represent a 57-percent gain in Tundra sales as compared to 2006. Still, Toyota is not selling as many Tundra's as they had hoped, forcing them to slow down their production cycle. Last month, Toyota sold over 10,000 fewer Tundra's than they are capable of producing. No jobs will be lost at either the Princeton, Indiana plant or the San Antonio, Texas plant where Tundra's and Sequoia's are built.

Those in the market for a new truck are very close to welcoming the redesigned '09 Ford F-150 and '09 Dodge Ram to the stable of choices. Despite this announcement, we're nowhere near ready to count Toyota out, and we're sure that they are well aware that they are in the middle of an uphill battle where consumers will have more quality pickups to choose from than ever before.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]