Larry Vellequette

The Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo is stacked with weird and wild concept vehicles, and that makes it far more interesting for showgoers than struggling U.S. auto shows.

Both Toyota and Lexus brands saw their U.S. sales rise 12 percent in October, thanks in large part to strong sales from their largest three-row crossovers.

Toyota Motor Corp. will bring at least some parts of its bespoke, hand-built Century line to the U.S. in coming years and plans to use a subset of Lexus dealers to retail the high-end vehicles.

Toyota's dedication to its "multipath" powertrain approach, highlighting both expanded hybrid options while also adding EVs to its lineup, has given it an advantage in the U.S. market.

Toyota is warning its dealers to prepare for a supply dip of its bestselling nameplate, the Toyota RAV4 compact crossover as the redesigned 2026 version goes on sale early next year.

Overall industry sentiment stayed relatively flat in the third quarter Auto Industry Confidence Index from where it was three months ago, largely because of changing fortunes between franchised dealers and automaker respondents.

Automaker confidence slipped in the third quarter in the latest Automotive News Auto Industry Confidence Index, with respondents citing tariffs and competition and trade issues with China as ongoing challenges to their businesses.

At the Lexus dealer meeting, retailers will hear of the brand’s plans to expand its product lineup as well as celebrate record profitability.

The Toyota Grand Highlander and Lexus TX are propelling sales at their respective brands, but some of those sales have come at the expense of smaller crossovers.

New-vehicle inventory ticked up to 2.8 million in the U.S. to start the month, data firm Lotlinx said.