Toyota Deals May Spur 23% U.S. Auto-Sales Jump, J.D. Power Says
March 19, 2010, 10:38 AM EDTBy Keith Naughton
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.’s incentives will help boost U.S. industrywide auto sales by 23 percent this month, researcher J.D. Power & Associates projected.
Deliveries in March probably will run at an annualized rate of 12.1 million vehicles, compared with a pace of 10.4 million in February and 9.9 million a year earlier, J.D. Power said today in a statement. The annual rate is an industry gauge that corrects for seasonal buying patterns.
“Sales increased robustly during the first half of March and are expected to remain strong throughout the remainder of the month,” Jeff Schuster, J.D. Power’s executive director of forecasting, said in the statement. The gains are “setting the industry recovery back on track.”
Toyota, staggered by recalls of more than 8 million cars, is offering deals such as no-interest financing that were matched by some competitors. Schuster said there is “some risk” that the offerings from the world’s largest automaker might spark “an incentive war” in the industry.
U.S. sales of cars and light trucks will reach 1.09 million in March, according to Westlake, California-based J.D. Power, which gathers transaction data from more than 8,000 dealers.
J.D. Power is the second forecaster in as many days to call for a recovery in March sales driven by the incentives from Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota. The annual sales rate may reach 13.5 million vehicles, researcher Edmunds.com said yesterday.
“The industry has been recharged by incentives offers from Toyota and other automakers who responded in kind,” Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst for the Santa Monica, California-based company, said in a statement.
--Editors: Ed Dufner, Steve Walsh
To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan, at Knaughton3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net
