Toyota Motor Corp., busy replenishing auto inventory thinned by the March earthquake, said it's not likely to begin posting U.S. sales gains for at least two more months.
Sales for Toyota, Asia's largest automaker, will fall again in July after dropping 33 percent in May and 21 percent in June, Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president for U.S. sales, said Wednesday. Supplies of cars and light trucks are still below average, and it will be weeks before dealers are fully restocked, he said.
"Our market share will begin recovering this month, but it will be September or maybe October before we're really growing again," Carter said in an interview in Cle Elum, Washington. "We were in too deep a hole, and we're still digging out."
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