Toyota reported sales today; 4R down 7.6 per cent for July (3,393 units from 3,814) and year-to-date down 1.7 per cent (25,328 from 25,767).

Think this might be first decline for 4R since introduction, but could be wrong.

Sales Chart

Honestly, information like that is useless w/o a comps. I actually think this is great....especially if you compare it to how the rest of Toyota's sales are!

Yaris - Down more than 50% month and year!
Corolla & Camery - Both down 20% to 30% for the month
Prius - Down over 40% for the month!

Seriously, the 4R is down 7% this month vs the Prius at 40% and how much better MPH does the Prius get and how much is fuel these days?!?! I think that says a LOT about the 4R!

The 2 winners here are the Highlander and Venza - even the Rav4 is down a lot month & year!

All in all for what the 4R is I think it is holding its own very well, according to Toyota's numbers it is.

I'm not surprised, I had a hard time to find my 4Runner back in 2010 and after tsunami affected Japan so badly I guess a lot of Japanese vehicle sales went down.

I was reading the Sept. Fourwheeler magazine. It says "The 5th gen 4runner may be the last of the breed. If rumors that Toyota will be leaving body on frame SUVs behind after this models life cycle are to be believed, this may in fact be the culmination of Toyota's years of off highway experience".

The 4runner is low volume compared to the 10s of thousands of Camrys, Corrolas sold each month. The Lexus GX460 was only selling around 600 a month last report I saw.

I don't doubt this is true. I've heard that Chevy/GMC will be abandoning the Tahoe/Yukon line for a unibody version - I think it's been 4-5 years since that one was updated.

It's too bad - there are hardly any real SUVs around anymore.

The last year of the 4th gen sold something like 34,000 units in the US IIRC, down from the two introductory years of over 100,000. So no, it's not the first decline.

And it's true, much of it is relative, and the overall economics need to also take consumer outlook (which reads into "how likely is it that will I have my job long enough to pay this off?") and other numbers. If your sales are off 10% whereas the rest of the market implodes by 30%, then it's actually a good thing.

The Venza is built in the US afaik, as is most of the drivetrain. If it sees a sales spike because of availability, then it also explains a lot.

Everyone needs to remember two things:
First - Japan had a little problem which meant there were very few vehicles to go around
Second - Vehicle type is consumer driven. A unibody can go offroad, hence the Jeep GC. Apparently most are happy with the Highlanders and the RAV4's of the world. That is what is happening to the FJ - most do not want body on frame anymore. You have to give Toyota credit for at least trying to keep it alive.

New car sales of 1962 Ford Pintos down 100% in 2011...see how easily you can make statistics ridiculous?

Yes, sales are down 7%, but did you know that importation of them is down 60%? Understanding why something is mathematically different is much better than just taking statistics for what they say. Remember, 90% of all statistics can be made to say what you want them to say 50% of the time.

p.s., I'm not sure what the import rate is right now, I was just making a point.

June sales from Motor Trend magazine. June Sales: Toyota, Honda Down 24 Percent, Nissan Up 16.5 Percent - WOT on Motor Trend

Jeep sold almost 9000 Grand Cherokees in June. Ram and Jeep Stars of Chrysler Group's June Sales; Jeep Compass Most Improved Over 2010 - Auto News - Truck Trend

According to a recent study, nearly 21% of all statistics are made up... ...including this one.

So much is not revealed in those numbers. The base model GC is cheaper than the base 4Runner, we have no information on how many were purchased for rental fleets (and are thereby going to be stripped down models), and we have no indication of how much the lack of production in Japan pushed people into domestic options like the GC, Wrangler, of Ford Explorer.

I'm not worried about Toyota, this slowdown will only bring out the best in them. I'm actually happy for both Ford and Jeep because good competition makes for better products and more choices. But a drop in sales by the Japanese automakers was a fait accompli after the earthquake; with no parts and no production and no shipments what did they really have to sell?

Sex Panther, 60% of the time it works all the time.

I'm 100% sure this thread doesn't really matter.. but I probably only echo 50% of the people on here, 20% of the time...

that's just my 2% OP

That's because the 5th generation of 4Runners are ugly, uninspired and gutless. No V8?

Please

Wasnt Honda down 88% in total? What was the pilot, havent looked that up yet but I would bet that was way down...hmm. The 7% is caused by low stock on lots without a doubt. Low stock means no discounts or less haggling, people walk because they cant find the model they want or the color, etc. This stat means nothing....all is good.