- Toyota’s global sales fell 7.2 percent in May, a fourth straight decline.
- China led the collapse, with sales there down nearly 32 percent.
- North America and Europe held nearly flat while Asia bled out.
Toyota still firmly holds onto the crown as the world’s largest car manufacturer, but there’s trouble in paradise. For the fourth consecutive month, Toyota sales have declined, primarily due to a drop across Asia, including China, as well as Oceania and the Middle East.
In May, Toyota sold a total of 834,729 vehicles globally, 7.2 percent down from May 2025 and below the 849,306 units moved in April and the 897,871 in March. Counting subsidiary Daihatsu in the tally, the global figure falls harder, down 7.4 percent to 885,207 units, with production off 5.8 percent to 857,765.
The pain runs to the bottom line, with Toyota now guiding to 3 trillion yen ($18.8 billion) in operating income through March 2027, under estimates and last year’s 3.8 trillion yen ($23.4 billion).
North America And Europe Hold Their Ground
In North America, sales held relatively steady, dropping by just 0.1 percent year-over-year in May to 280,539, though that’s an increase from the 261,979 cars sold in April. Drill into the US specifically and the picture fared a hair worse, as sales slipped 0.6 percent to 238,800 during the month. Toyota partly blamed the transition to the next-generation RAV4, even as demand for hybrids and EVs kept growing.
Read: Toyota Is Cutting RAV4 Production While Dealers Count Stock In Hours
Similarly, sales in Europe remained relatively steady in May, dropping by 0.3 percent to 99,597 units.
China Drags Down Asia
Across the Asia region, sales fell 17.2 percent in May to 224,366 vehicles, and the main culprit was China. Sales there collapsed by 31.7 percent year-over-year to 102,299 units. Toyota described it as “a challenging market environment,” pointing to stubbornly high gasoline prices in the country. The damage runs deeper than a single month, with the automaker moving 579,419 vehicles in China through May, a 15 percent shortfall against the same stretch last year. Elsewhere, the Philippines slipped 13.4 percent, Malaysia dropped 18.2 percent, and Pakistan tumbled 24.7 percent.
Toyota’s global business is also being affected by the Middle East, in part due to the war in Iran. Sales in the region were down 38.6 percent in May to 29,568 units. The region carries more weight than its unit count lets on. Per Bloomberg, accounting chief Takanori Azuma said Toyota ships 500,000 to 600,000 vehicles a year to the Middle East and braces for just under half of that to take a hit.
Oceania followed the same path, with sales down 26 percent to 21,061 vehicles, though May edged out April’s 19,651.
Japan Defies The Odds
Bucking the trend is strong demand in Toyota’s home market. Japanese sales climbed 11.1 percent in May against 118,381 vehicles a year earlier, making it one of the few major markets to grow at all. The gain was real, but May still came in well below the 149,924 new Toyotas sold at home in April.
