Toyota posts annual sales increases in March

While Toyota may have had anything but a calm start to 2010, consumers seemed to be putting aside their debt consolidation needs as they continued to purchase new cars from the automaker in March.

According to the first quarter sales report released last week by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., the Japanese car company reported March sales of 186,683 units, a 35 percent increase over sales figures recorded in March 2009.

Similarly, the company’s Lexus Division reported sales of 20,219 sales during the month, an increase of 36.5 percent over the sales seen one year earlier.

"Toyota’s strong sales performance in March reflects our customers’ continued confidence in the safety and reliability of our vehicles and their trust in the brand,” said Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. “We are standing by our cars, and we’re grateful that our customers are standing by Toyota.”

Toyota’s strongest passenger car sellers for the month were their Camy and Camry Hybrid models, which sold a combined 36,251 vehicles. The Corolla followed with sales of 29,623.

The RAV4 model led the sales figures for the company’s light trucks for the month, selling an all-time high of 25,781 vehicles.