Toyota's agility challenged by downturn

TORRANCE, Calif., July 9 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Corp. finds itself in the same boat as U.S. automakers with too many large and not enough small vehicles in production, car dealers said.

Toyota is known for quick reactions to market changes and for its lead in hybrid car sales, The Detroit News reported Wednesday. But the recent shift to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars caught the company off guard, some dealers said.

"They're maxed out in production of Corolla and Camry cars in North America, and there's nothing more the U.S. staff can do," Michigan car dealer Rosario Criscuolo told The Detroit News after Toyota officials explained the company's position last month in a meeting in Salt Lake City.

The company is "no longer considered immune" from shake-ups in the market, industry analyst Aaron Bragman at Global Insight told the News.

Toyota's U.S. sales are have dropped 6.8 percent this year, the report said. Sales of the luxury Lexus brand have dropped 14.7 percent, while Tundra pickup sales have plummeted by 53 percent, the newspaper reported.