After a two year period of struggling sales in the United States, it appears as though Toyota is back. The Japanese based automakers posted a 12% increase in April, it's highest total in 17 months according to The New York Times. During that time the company suffered through losses and minor gains due to the destruction in Japan from the early 2011 Earthquake/Tsunami. The strongest factor in Toyota's recovery was the doubling in sales of the Prius Hybrid compared to last year. After the price soared and the availability decreased significantly in the aftermath of the disaster; Toyota was finally able to produce enough Prius's to meet equilibrium price.
Toyota could not have picked a better month to pull off a sooner than expected recovery. Besides Chrysler's 20% increase and Volkswagon's incredible 32% increase, nearly every other major automaker suffered losses or minimal gains. Nissan's sales posted neither gain nor loss but other companies weren't so lucky. Honda fell 2% while GM decreased 8%. Overall it appears as though Toyota has recovered from the Tsunami/ Earthquake disaster quicker than most could have imagined.
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