When gasoline prices rise, the biggest beneficiary in the auto industry seems to be Toyota. Riding record sales of its Prius hybrid and increased sales of the Camry, Corolla, Yaris and other cars, Toyota posted a U.S. sales gain of 14.1 percent in May for its highest monthly total ever.
With gasoline prices topping $3 per gallon nationwide, Toyota Motor Corp. sold just over 24,000 gas-electric Priuses, a whopping 185 percent increase over last May, the company said Friday.
The Prius, which gets an estimated 55 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, helped boost Toyota's U.S. sales above Ford Motor Co., which saw a decline of 6.9 percent as it continued to cut low-profit sales to rental companies.
General Motors Corp., which also said it benefited from high gas prices in some segments, reported that its sales rose 9.7 percent, helping boost industry sales by 5 percent during a month that many analysts expected to be lackluster.
DaimlerChrysler AG's sales rose 3.9 percent and American Honda Motor Co. rose 2.5 percent. Nissan Motor Co. posted a strong gain at 7.4 percent.
Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis, said that since 2005, several trends have emerged when gasoline prices rise in the spring, and this year was no different.
Buyers tend to shift from trucks to cars, luxury car sales tend to weaken, small and mid-sized car sales rise and people tend to choose four-cylinder powertrains over larger engines, Ballew said.
The industrywide mix of cars and trucks was about equal in May, while trucks normally account for about 55 percent of the market, according to Ballew.
But like 2005 and 2006, Ballew predicts a gradual drop in gasoline prices during the summer and a return to the 55 percent truck mix later in the year.
Still, he said GM was helped in some areas by higher gas prices because its pickup trucks get better gas mileage than competitors, as do its mid-sized crossover vehicles. And it has a wider array of mid-sized and small cars than in the past, he said.
“We're much better positioned than where we were,” Ballew said.
GM, the industry's top seller, said it sold 371,056 light vehicles last month. Car sales, including the Chevrolet Impala and Saturn Aura, rose 16.2 percent to 150,979, while light truck sales, including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, gained 5.6 percent to 220,077. GM's sales include the European Saab brand.
The Silverado again passed Ford's F-Series pickups as the top-selling vehicles in the U.S.
GM said its retail sales rose 12.8 percent compared with May 2006.
Toyota, which has been gaining market share in the U.S., sold 269,023 Toyota and Lexus vehicles in May, topping its previous monthly record of 242,675 set in March. Car sales rose 16.2 percent to 168,270, while light truck sales, including the Tundra pickup, rose 10.9 percent to 100,753.
Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for the Edmunds.com auto Web site, said gasoline prices clearly influenced buyers in May, but they also went for incentives and the most updated designs in categories that aren't known for fuel efficiency.
He pointed to GM's full-sized pickup trucks rising despite expensive gasoline.
“Product itself is still the key here as to what sells out there,” Toprak said.
Industrywide U.S. sales in May rose to 1.56 million from 1.49 million in May 2006, according to Autodata Corp.
Toyota sales surpassed Ford's in two months last year as well as in January of this year. Analysts predict that Toyota likely will knock Ford out of its traditional No. 2 spot for the full year in 2007, but Ford has said it is focused more on returning to profitability in North America.
Ford said its sales to retail customers, which were 3 percent lower than a year ago, still marked its best retail month of the year as the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers continued to make gains.
Ford said it now expects Edge sales to reach 120,000 this year — 20 percent higher than its original forecast.
Sales of Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover brands, including fleet sales, totaled 258,391 last month, including 169,265 light trucks and 89,126 cars. Truck sales were essentially flat from a year ago with the F-Series down nearly 12 percent. Car sales dropped 17.7 percent with the Ford Fusion, which had seen sales rise in previous months, saw a 4.4 percent decline.
Still, George Pipas, Ford's top sales analyst, said the numbers indicate Ford's U.S. market share appears to have stabilized between 14 percent and 15 percent, a milestone since it had been losing about 1 percentage point of share per year previously. The company had set 14 percent to 15 percent as a goal for 2007 and 2008 under its restructuring plan.
DaimlerChrysler sold a total of 221,164 vehicles in the U.S. last month. Chrysler Group's passenger vehicle sales, which include the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands, rose 4.3 percent to 199,393 with help from a 20 percent jump in its Jeep brand, while Mercedes sales rose 0.7 percent to 21,771. Dodge sales were up about 3 percent.
Honda, which includes Honda and Acura brands, said it sold 145,367 vehicles in May. That included 87,064 cars, a 2.6 percent increase, and 58,303 trucks, a 2.4 percent rise. Honda said its sales got a boost from the compact Civic and subcompact Fit, as well as the CR-V small crossover SUV.
Nissan said its U.S. sales, including Nissan and Infiniti, rose on good performances by its larger sedans and fuel-efficient small cars. The company said it sold 93,062 vehicles, up from 86,667 during the same month last year. Car sales rose 24.7 percent to 59,911, but light truck sales fell 14.2 percent to 33,151.
It said it pushed the fuel-efficient Versa subcompact and Sentra compact cars in May advertising as gas prices were rising.
“Obviously people responded to that,” said Brad Shaw, Nissan's senior vice president for sales and marketing.
The Associated Press reports unadjusted figures, calculating the percentage change in the total number of vehicles sold in one month compared with the same month a year earlier. Some automakers report percentages adjusted for sales days, which last month was 26 and in May 2006 was 25.
