Toyota sales off 1.1% in April, but new models do well

Toyota Motor said its Toyota brand sales slipped 1.5% in April, while its sales of its Lexus luxury brand rose 3.1%. Combined, the company posted a sales decline of 1.1% for the month.

All Toyota cars were off last year's pace except the redesigned Avalon big sedan. Its sales were a whopping 119.4% better.

Among truck models, the new RAV4, which went on sale in January, was up 22%.

Tacoma small pickup was up 19% and Tundra full-size pickup rose 14.6%.

The Scion brand eked out a 3.5% gain solely due to the FR-S sports care. All other Scions were off.

At Lexus, the redesigned ES was a standout. Its sales were up 70.7%.

The LS big sedan was up 59.8% but it's a low-volume model and even with the jump its sales totalled just 700 un April.

Most everywhere else on the Toyota-Lexus sales charts was either ho-hum or grim.

Toyota said it was cheered by strength in retail sales -- sales to individual buyers rather than rental-car and taxicab fleets -- and by the success of redesigns.

"Toyota's two newest models -- Avalon and RAV4 -- continued to attract customers with double-digit gains in April," said Bill Fay, general manager of Toyota Motor Sales USA.