Toyota global sales up 5% in October, fell 3.5% in the U.S.

Toyota’s global vehicle sales were up 5 percent in October to around 640,000 units, the first year-on-year increase in 15 months for the Japanese automaker and the world’s biggest car manufacturer. In its largest markets, Toyota saw sales in the United States drop 3.5 percent but increase 15 percent in Japan and 45 percent in China.

Executives had previously said that they expect U.S. sales to start picking up around October.

Earlier this month, Toyota announced that its net revenues for the first half of the fiscal year totaled 8.378 trillion yen, a decrease of 31.3 percent compared to the same period last fiscal year. In North America, operating income decreased by 7.4 billion yen to 26.9 billion yen. It said that consolidated vehicle sales for the first half totaled 3.13 million units, a decrease of 1.12 million units compared to the same period last fiscal year.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Reuters