That's Toyota in Detroit's rear-view mirror, and it's closing fast with a lineup of vehicle designs, advertising campaigns and promotional strategies that have made it a hit with American consumers as well as Advertising Age's 2006 Marketer of the Year.
2006 sales gains
U.S. motorists -- from tuners to tree-huggers to that vast mainstream in between -- pushed Toyota Motor Sales USA's 2006 sales gains far past the incremental increases of previous years. The Toyota line, its youthful Scion and luxury Lexus have all contributed -- without the level of incentives that have become such an addiction for Toyota's rivals.
As General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. scrounged for a rebound strategy and Chrysler Group and Nissan North America stumbled, Toyota purred through 2006. The high point may have been July, which marked the first time Toyota Motor Sales USA outsold Ford Motor in the U.S.
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