When US auto sales slumped last month to their lowest levels in more than a decade, Toyota Motor Corp. suffered as much as anyone else.
Unusual for the Japanese automaker, its U.S. sales tumbled 21.4 percent, even more than the overall market.
As the manufacturer of the Corolla, Yaris and other popular small cars and the leading seller of hybrids, Toyota should have benefited from soaring fuel prices. Instead, its U.S. dealers found themselves stocked with Toyota and Lexus trucks they couldn't sell, and short of small, fuel-efficient cars.
At a meeting last month in Salt Lake City, dealers pressed Toyota's top U.S. managers to explain why the carmaker renowned for its responsiveness and flexibility couldn't provide them with more small cars.
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