TOYOTA'S SAN ANTONIO-MADE HYBRID VEHICLES THRIVE AS ITS OTHER EV MODELS STRUGGLE
Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales tapped the brakes last month after turning in its best October on record.
The North American division sold 212,772 vehicles in November, up 2.7% compared with the year-ago performance. That's a significantly slower pace than the nearly 12% growth in October.
The San Antonio-made gas-powered Tundra's sales plummeted last month, seeing a 30% decrease in sales. The Japanese manufacturer sold about 4,000 fewer of the trucks compared with November 2024.
The other San Antonio-manufactured vehicles had a more successful month.
The electrified Tundra saw its best year-over-year sales last month, growing 194.8%. In November 2024, fewer than a thousand of the vehicles were sold. That number expanded to 2,818 this year.
READ MORE: San Antonio-manufactured Toyota Tundra hybrid has best October sales yet
But the jump continues to be affected by last year's Tundra recalls that diminished sales numbers. In 2024, Toyota recalled Tundras because of a reverse light failure, a faulty multimedia display and tire damage.
The Sequoia hybrid shared similar success as the electrified Tundra, though not on the same scale. The vehicle saw an 11.4% growth, selling 253 more of the model compared with the prior year.
Despite the sales growth produced by the San Antonio-made electrified vehicles, electrified vehicles across the board struggled in November. Sales of electrified vehicles have faltered since the Trump administration eliminated federal tax incentives.
The $7,500 rebate that had been available to those purchasing electrified vehicles through the New Clean Vehicle Tax vanished starting Oct. 1. In September, the final month that the credit was offered, there was a 8.1% increase in electrified vehicle sales. The prior month produced 9% sales growth.
RELATED: Hybrid Tundra sales surge as San Antonio-built Toyotas recover from August slump
But last month, with two full months of no rebate, there was a stark difference in sales. In November, Toyota's North American division saw a 6% decrease in sales, selling nearly 6,000 fewer electrified vehicles than the same period the previous year. That was an even worse performance than in October, when electrified vehicles eked out an increase of 0.3%.
Overall, auto sales are being weighed down by the rising prices of new vehicles. For the first time, the average cost of a new vehicle in the U.S. exceeded $50,000, according to Cox Automotive.
Even Toyota's top-selling models floundered in November. Although the RAV4 continued to lead the pack with 39,463 cars sold, it saw a 4.2% decrease from November 2024.
The hybrid Camry saw the same trend. The model sold the most electrified vehicles - 26,242 - but saw a nearly 7% decrease in sales compared with November 2024.
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