Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., still struggling to deliver enough vehicles to dealers, lost share of the U.S. market as Nissan Motor Co. grew more than expected and industrywide sales were the best since April.
Toyota, held back by tight supplies of Prius hybrids and Tundra pickups, sold 17 percent fewer vehicles, reducing its share to 11.5 percent from 15.3 percent a year earlier, according to researcher Autodata Corp Monday. Honda's 8 percent drop in deliveries cut its share by 1.7 points to 8.5 percent.
Inventory at Toyota was about 40 percent less at the beginning of the month than a year earlier, said Bob Carter, group vice president of U.S. sales. The automaker, Asia's largest, returned to full production last month after output was disrupted by March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and supply of some models is recovering more slowly than anticipated.