Toyota global sales fall 4.8% in July as China slump deepens for sixth month

China drives a sixth straight monthly sales decline

Toyota Motor Corp. sold 856,125 vehicles worldwide in July, a 4.8% year-on-year decrease, as the Chinese market contracted for the sixth consecutive month. Sales in China fell 24.3% to 114,747 vehicles, with the automaker attributing the drop to higher gasoline prices that depressed demand for hybrid and internal-combustion models. Local production in China fell even further, plunging 32.7% to 91,069 units, leaving factory output well below the level of retail demand.

Middle East slump outpaces the U.S. softness

The steepest regional contraction came in the Middle East, where deliveries dropped 44.5% to 27,612 vehicles. In the United States, Toyota's largest single market, sales slipped 0.8% while local factory output declined 4%. The Middle East decline was therefore substantially larger than the U.S. reduction, even as the broader North American business remained comparatively resilient, according to the July data.

Japan cushions global volumes

Domestic performance provided the principal counterweight to overseas weakness. Sales in Japan rose 11% during July, and Japanese factory output increased 12.4%. Vehicle exports from Japan climbed 10.2% year-on-year to just over 196,000 units, the third consecutive monthly gain and the highest export level since October, according to the July results.

Production divergence widens between home and overseas plants

Global production contracted 2.1% in July, but the decline was concentrated outside Japan. With Chinese output down 32.7% and U.S. production off 4%, the gap between domestic and overseas manufacturing performance widened. Toyota's Japanese plants continued to expand, helping to keep the worldwide production total from falling further into negative territory.