Toyota Motors US sales drop 3 pct in Nov

Toyota Motors on Wednesday said its US auto sales in November dropped by 3 percent over last year, making it the only major automobile maker to report a sales drop for the month.

The company sold 129,317 vehicles in November, as against 133,700 vehicles during the same period year ago.

Light-truck sales were up 18 percent. Sales of Toyota's 4Runner trucks more than doubled. But overall, sales in the company's Toyota division fell 3.6 percent, while Lexus luxury brand sales dropped 1.4 percent, the carmaker said in a statement.

Sales of the Scion tC sports car rose 87 percent, to 1,619, while Camry sales fell 24 percent to 20,737.

Toyota, the world's top automaker, said it cut back on sales to fleets including car rental agencies by 60 percent in November from a year earlier, while its sales to consumers rose about 5 percent.

Toyota has recalled about 14 million vehicles worldwide since last November, including 11 million in the United States. On Monday, Toyota said it would replace potentially defective coolant pumps on 378,000 U.S. Prius hybrids.