March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said U.S. sales rose as much as 35 percent this month as incentives such as no- interest financing overcame the drag from global recalls of more than 8 million vehicles. “Our loyal customers are starting to come back; the challenge is going to be attracting conquest buyers” from rivals, Jim Lentz, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, told reporters today in New York. “It’s not weeks, it’s going to be measured in months, hopefully not years.”
Lentz predicted a March gain in a range of 30 percent to 35 percent from a year earlier, without giving a figure before an April 1 report on monthly results. He said Toyota City, Japan- based Toyota hasn’t decided whether to extend the discounts.
An increase would end two months of declines as recalls to adjust brakes and fix defects linked to unintended acceleration caused buyers to shy away from the world’s largest automaker. Toyota temporarily froze sales of eight U.S. models in late January as part of the recalls.
Toyota has repaired 1.7 million vehicles in the U.S. recall, Lentz said. Of the 1.9 million Toyotas recalled for sticky accelerator pedals, the carmaker has fixed 1.2 million, or about 60 percent, he said.
The Toyota Corolla is “still under study” for a recall by U.S. regulators, Lentz said.
Models posting sales gains in March include the RAV4 small sport-utility vehicle, which jumped more than threefold to about 22,000, Lentz said.
“The big surprise has been the RAV4,” Lentz said. “It could be an all-time record.”
Regarding plans for future incentives, Lentz said the automaker’s offerings are “going to vary month to month,” and model by model.
Toyota’s American depositary receipts rose 22 cents to $81.20 at 1:04 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The ADRs have declined 3.5 percent this year.
