Don't look now, but either Toyota Camry or Honda Accord is going to capture the title of best-selling passenger car in America for 1997, bumping Ford Taurus from the position it has held for the past five years.
That means Japanese nameplates will take both first and second place in the sales race for the first time.The Camry has outpaced all other cars for the calendar year through November. But at 352,902 units sold, it's only about 6,000 ahead of the Accord.
And Toyota may not be able to build enough Camrys to stop Honda from surging ahead during December.
Toyota's plant in Georgetown, Ky., builds about 80 percent of the Camrys sold in the United States. Output this year has been crimped because Toyota began production of its new Sienna minivan at the same plant this summer. Toyota gets the remaining 20 percent of its Camrys for sale in the United States from Japan.
"Through November, we've produced about 20,500 minivans at Georgetown. Had we not produced the Sienna, we would have been able to make about 20,000 more Camrys or Avalons," said Toyota spokesman John Mc-Cand-less.
For the past several months, Toyota has only had enough Camrys on hand to satisfy 20 days' worth of sales. The industry considers 60 days the optimum number.
Neither Toyota nor Honda is boasting that it will capture the No. 1 title.
While Toyota cites its production constraints, Honda says it is handicapped by not selling to fleets. Fleet sales can boost model sales dramatically in a short time.
"We deliberately don't do fleet sales, partly to protect the resale value of our cars. Fleets can buy from dealers, but the company itself has no fleet sales office and discourages fleet sales," said Honda spokesman Andy Boyd.
Camry has never held the best-selling car crown for the United States. Partly driving its strength this year is higher sales to fleets, such as daily rental car companies. Through November, Camry fleet sales accounted for 13 percent of the total, up from 9 percent a year ago.
The Honda Accord was the first car made by a Japanese or European automaker to take first place for calendar sales when it captured the title from the Ford Escort in 1989.
The Accord was completely redesigned for the 1998 model year and was introduced in September to rave reviews - a big part of the reason for its recent sales surge.