Toyota Motor reported Monday that its global vehicle sales continued to slide in May, marking the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines, as challenging conditions in China and the Middle East took a toll on overall numbers.
Worldwide sales fell 7.2% compared to May of last year, coming in at 834,279 vehicles. International sales outside Japan dropped 9.6%, while domestic Japanese sales bucked the trend with an 11.1% increase, boosted by strong buyer interest in models like the RAV4 and bZ4X.
Breaking the numbers down by region, China saw the sharpest drop, with sales plunging 31.7% amid difficult market conditions that included rising gasoline prices. The Middle East experienced an even steeper percentage decline, with sales falling 38.6%. In the United States — Toyota’s largest market globally — sales edged down a modest 0.6%.
On the production side, Toyota’s global output fell 5.5% from a year ago. A 3.8% decrease in U.S. production and a 13.3% drop across Asia more than cancelled out gains made in Japan.
Toyota’s reported figures also include results from its luxury vehicle brand, Lexus.
