Toyota and Lexus sales plunge in China, pulling down global deliveries

In August, Toyota and its premium Lexus brand experienced a 23% sales decline in China, the world's largest auto market, as consumers avoided costly gasoline and hybrid vehicles. This contraction lowered Toyota's total global deliveries by 7.5% compared with a year earlier. The downturn reflects a broader slowdown in China linked to a real-estate crisis and uneven electric-vehicle demand, compounded by rising oil prices from Middle-East conflict.

Outside China, the company posted modest gains of 2.6% in Europe and 9.1% in Japan, driven by strong hybrid model sales, but saw a 4.4% drop in the United States and a more than one-third fall in the Middle East. Toyota previously projected hybrid sales to exceed 5 million units in 2026, a strategy that helps offset tariff barriers that limit Chinese EV entrants in the U.S. market.