US sales of Toyota fell in Sept; Honda higher

Toyota's sales in the US market fell in September from the previous month, but Honda boosted its sales despite the weak economy, data from both companies showed Monday. The two Japanese automaking giants continued to struggle to rebound from the manufacturing interruptions of the March earthquake-tsunami disaster as well as tough competition from their US counterparts, who pushed more buyer incentives. Toyota sold 121,451 vehicles in the American markets in September, compared to 129,483 a month earlier. It was also 18.2 percent lower than September 2010, despite a recovery of demand in the US market. Honda's sales rose about 7,200 units to 89,532 in September from August, but was also still 8.0 percent below the year earlier figure. Honda was strongest in its trucks category, which includes the CRV and Pilot sport utility vehicles (SUVs). "Toyota had lower sales results than expected, and that can be attributed to the company's slight decline in incentive spending while some of their competitors had -- and heavily promoted -- their superior deals," said Edmunds.com analyst Jessica Caldwell.