Toyota car sales fall for seventh straight month on China slump

[TOKYO] Toyota Motor’s car sales fell again last month due to a prolonged slump in China, where legacy brands are grappling with mounting competition from fast-moving local electric-vehicle makers.

Toyota and Lexus brand sales cratered 23 per cent in the world’s biggest auto market in August on weak demand for gasoline and hybrid vehicles, the Japanese manufacturer said on Tuesday (Sep 29). That dragged down its global group deliveries, which declined 7.5 per cent from a year earlier.

Toyota and its peers have been contending with a shrinking market in China, where consumers are shying away from expensive purchases due to an ongoing real estate crisis. Carmakers are also dealing with uneven demand for EVs, and soaring oil prices triggered by the fighting in the Middle East.

Toyota and Lexus sales rose 2.6 per cent in Europe and 9.1 per cent in Japan amid robust demand for new models, especially hybrids. They declined 4.4 per cent in the US and fell by more than a third in the Middle East.

Earlier this year, Toyota said hybrid sales are on track to exceed 5 million units for the first time in 2026. Alternative powertrains have provided the Japanese carmaker with a strong arsenal in the US, where steep tariffs have all but blocked BYD and other Chinese brands from entering the market. BLOOMBERG