I’ve been publishing auto sales reports for years, initially focused on electric vehicle sales and then later on overall US auto sales. Last year, as it had become clear the US car market was slumping pretty continuously, a couple of US automakers switched from monthly to quarterly sales reports. Gradually, more and more companies followed that course. At the moment, these auto brands report quarterly sales instead of monthly sales:
- Alfa Romeo
- Audi
- BMW
- Buick
- Cadillac
- Chevrolet
- Chrysler
- Dodge
- Fiat
- Ford
- GMC
- Infiniti
- Jeep
- Lincoln
- Mercedes
- MINI
- Mitsubishi
- Nissan
- Porsche
- Ram
- Tesla (though, it doesn’t break out US sales from global sales)
- Volkswagen
These brands report monthly sales in the US:
- Acura
- Genesis
- Honda
- Hyundai
- Kia
- Subaru
- Volvo
Toyota [NYSE:TM] was reporting monthly sales last year (including sales of luxury brand Lexus), but then didn’t publish a sales report until April, covering the first quarter of the year. “Okay, fine, it is switching to quarterly reporting, too,” I thought.
However, more than halfway through July, Toyota has not published its second quarter sales in the US. They’re not in the Toyota press room. They’re not published via a major news release company/website. They’re absent.
I’ve seen brief mention of Toyota’s sales a few places, such as on CNBC right at the beginning of the month, but no sales release with the data, including sales by model.
The coronavirus pandemic and ensuing economic shutdown hurt the auto industry badly. I get it. Perhaps Toyota decided the public didn’t need to look into the details of its sales losses. That’s the only thing I can deduce from this mystery.
If I am a fool and a Toyota press release is out there somewhere indicating second quarter sales, including by model, please do let me know.
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