April 2015 Sales Conference Notes

April 2015 Sales Confernce Call (Audio Clip)

April 2015 Sales Conference Call
Friday, May 1, 2015

Toyota Chief Communications Officer Scott Vazin:

Good day and thank you for joining us to review April sales results for Toyota, Scion and Lexus.

Speaking today will be:

Bill Fay, Group Vice President and General Manager of the Toyota Division
And Jeff Bracken, Lexus Group Vice President and General Manager

A recording of the call will be available at Toyotanewsroom.com about one hour after its conclusion and of course our communications team also is available to field any additional questions you may have at (310) 468-5297.

Now I’d like to turn it over to Bill for a look at the April results.

Toyota Division Group Vice President and General Manager Bill Fay:

Thank you Scott.

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today.

We haven’t seen all the numbers yet

But it looks as if the auto industry will post its best April in 10 years
With sales of 1,453,000 vehicles
Up 4.8% from last year
And continuing the industry’s string of 14 straight year-over-year monthly gains…

The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate for the month

Looks to be about 16.4 million
While the YTD SAAR is at 16.6 million…

We’re now a third of the way through 2015

And the industry is off to its best start since 2001
The last time the industry sold 17 million vehicles

Light trucks

Especially compact and mid-size SUVs and cross-overs
Having been driving the industry all year
And they did so again in April
With some analysts predicting light trucks will make up the largest percentage of sales for a month in more than 10 years

That certainly was the case

For Toyota and Lexus
As we set new April records for total light truck and SUV sales
- With RAV4 and Highlander both recording their best Aprils ever

Total Toyota, Scion and Lexus

April sales came in at 203,329 vehicles
Up 2% from last April…
While year-to-date sales of nearly 780,000
Are running 8% ahead of last year

Now for the Toyota Division in April

We were the #1 retail brand
With total sales of 177,453
Up slightly from last year

RAV4

Came in at nearly 23,000
Up 22%
- from its previous April record set just last year

Compact SUVs

Remain the hottest segment in industry
And as we announced at the New York Auto Show last month
- We’ll be adding to our RAV4 lineup
- With new hybrid and sporty SE models coming this fall

The new Highlander record

13,763, was up 10%
Breaking the previous April mark dating back to 2005

4Runner also had a big month

With sales up 18% for the month

And Tacoma and Tundra

Combined for sales of more than 26,000
Up more than 9%

Frankly we could have sold more of all those vehicles…

In regards to our passenger car lineup

Camry was the volume leader
And looks to be the best-selling car in America
With more than 34,000 sold

While Corolla

Saw sales of nearly 32,000
Up 10%

Looking ahead

The auto industry remains one of economy’s bright spots
And while there have been some mixed economic signals
We believe the industry is well-positioned for a very good summer selling season

Key indicators continue to show improvement

As jobless claims are at a 15-year low
While consumer sentiment announced this morning has risen to its second highest point since 2007…
Wages and consumer spending are up…
While housing and interest rates remain all stable

As a result

We’ve increased our industry forecast for the year to 17 million vehicles…

In closing, May will be Toyota Time

As we stage our second national marketing campaign of the year
Featuring a combination of low interest rates and excellent lease offers

Those offers will vary from region to region
But in much of the country Camry and Prius
- Will be added to the list of vehicles
- With available zero percent financing over a 60 month period

Thanks again for joining us today.

Now I’d like turn this over to Jeff Bracken for a look at the Lexus results.

Lexus Group Vice President and General Manager Jeff Bracken:

Thanks Bill and hello everyone.

Lexus April sales

25,876 vehicles
Were up nearly 12%
Not only out-performing…the industry and overall luxury segment but pushing Lexus to its best start for a year – ever

Year-to-date totals

Are up nearly 17% percent
And topping the 100,000 mark at the earliest point in our 26 year history

Both our passenger car

And luxury utility vehicles posted April gains
- With car sales rising 2 and a half percent
- And the LUV lineup up 23 and a half percent

ES was the passenger car volume leader

With sales of than 4,700

With the IS close behind

at just over 4,000, up 6%

While the GS also posted a solid gain

Up 14%
With sales of more than 1,700

And the CT was up 11%.

Sales of the new RC and RC-F

Totaled more than 1,225…
And it already accounts for 20% of the luxury coupe segment
As we move into key selling season for those models

Looking at our luxury utility lineup

RX was our volume leader again in April
With sales of more than 6,800
While the GX also posted a nice gain
- Up 19% to nearly 2,000 vehicles

The new NX models

Continue to outperform expectations
With sales of 3,400 in April
More than 15% ahead of our aggressive internal targets at the start of the month

The other news on NX

Is that it continues to bring new, younger and mostly male buyers into the Lexus dealerships…

Finally, Lexus Certified Pre-owned

Sales were on fire last month
At nearly 7,000
And a further indication of the strength of the luxury market

As Bill mentioned

We’re bullish on the industry as it heads into the summer months
And that goes double for luxury segment where we expect to maintain our record-setting pace

Thank you for joining us today, and now we’d like to open the call up to any questions you may have.