Toyota sold a total of 213,043 vehicles, down 4.4 percent from 222,950 in September 2006.

The results came in ahead of Ford Motor Co. for the No. 2 U.S. sales spot. Ford sold a total of 189,163 light vehicles in September, down 20.4 percent from 237,664 in the same month last year.

Adjusted for one fewer selling day in September of this year compared with last, Toyota sales fell 0.6 percent.

Sales of passenger cars fell 3.5 percent to 122,874 from 127,367 in the year-ago period. Demand for the Corolla fell 8.5 percent to 29,550 vehicles while sales of the Camry rose 5.7 percent to 40,435.

Demand for the company's Prius hybrid increased 19.1 percent to 12,494 vehicles.

Sales of light trucks dropped 5.7 percent to 90,169 from 95,583, as RAV4 sales increased 24.8 percent to 14,412 and Tundra sales rose 55 percent to 19,571, but Tacoma sales dropped 16.1 percent to 13,996 and Sienna sales fell 31.2 percent to 9,865.

So far this year, Toyota sales are up 3.8 percent to 2 million vehicles from 1.9 million at the same time last year.

Toyota's U.S. shares fell 71 cents to $118.04 in afternoon trading.