Toyota sales higher as big vehicles flourish

Japanese automaker Toyota's U.S. sales rose 4.1% in February, compared with a year earlier, as resilient consumers bought new vehicles at a near-record pace.

The automaker's sales narrowly missed Edmunds.com analyst expectations of 6% growth and Kelley Blue Book expectations of 7.5% growth.

Average incentives per vehicle rose 8.3%, compared with a year earlier, to $2,049, according to TrueCar. That remains well below the industry average of $2,990.

The company's namesake Toyota brand and soon-to-be-discontinued Scion brand collectively posted a 4.7% sales gain. That included an 8.6% increase for sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks and crossovers, and a 1.9% increase for cars.

Consumers are flocking to bigger, more profitable vehicles amid low gasoline prices. For example, the RAV4 SUV posted a 16.3% increase, and the 4Runner posted a 32% increase.

“Light trucks continue to drive strong demand in 2016,” said Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager for the Toyota division, in a statement. “The Toyota division had back-to-back, best-ever light truck monthly records, supported by another best-ever month in February for RAV4.”

The company's Lexus brand recorded a 0.4% sales gain to 23,234.

(Editor's note: Several figures in this story have been changed after Toyota issued a new statement correcting previous sales figures it had distributed.)

Follow Paste BN reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.