Sam Reyes installs floor mats and other accessories into a Toyota Tundra truck as it goes through processing before being shipped to dealerships at the Friedkin Group Gulf States Toyota processing facility Thursday, May 26, 2022 in Houston, TX.

Toyota Motor Corp. said U.S. sales of its vehicles fell nearly 10 percent in August as persistent supply shortages and rising interest rates sent the average price of a new car to more than $48,000.

It was a bigger downturn than expected across the industry as a whole.

Sales of the San Antonio-built Toyota Tundra notched their third-best month of the year. Dealers sold nearly 9,700 of the pickup trucks in August. That was up 65 percent from a year ago, when Toyota was winding down production of its old model. Toyota began building the redesigned 2022 Tundra in San Antonio late last year.

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It is typically the fifth-best selling full size pickup truck in the U.S.

Also last month, Toyota began San Antonio production of the redesigned Sequoia SUV, a factory spokeswoman said Thursday. The exact timing of the startup was unclear, but dealers sold just nine of the big SUVs last month.

Production at the automaker’s South Side plant has hummed along this year even as other Toyota factories have dealt with hiccups in production that held back sales.

Toyota said production at its 10 U.S. factories fell by 24 percent in July compared with the same month a year earlier, which it blamed on “the impact of the parts supply shortage.” For the 12 months through July, output at Toyota’s U.S. plants was 11 percent lower than a year earlier.

Despite supply challenges that emerged during the pandemic and have continued to plague manufacturers around the globe, Toyota lifted its production forecast for September through November to 900,000 vehicles per month — a monthly increase of 50,000.

PONTIAC, MI - SEPTEMBER 21: The new 2022 Toyota Tundra pickup truck, the first Toyota truck to offer a hybrid powertrain, is introduced to the news media at the 2021 Motor Bella auto show on September 21, 2021 in Pontiac, Michigan. The outdoor show runs from September 21 to September 26 and features over 350 cars, trucks, and utility vehicles on display, ride-along opportunities with professional drivers on a hot laps track, test drives, off-road track activations, and unique technology displays. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Still, the supply of vehicles available for sale in the U.S. is largely unchanged in the past year. At the end of July, there were 1.09 million new vehicles on dealer lots — up slightly from a year ago but still well below inventory levels in July 2020, when there were 2.55 million new vehicles for sale, according to Cox Automotive.

Production of new vehicles hasn’t been able to catch up with strong demand, resulting in rapidly escalating prices. The average transaction price for a new vehicle topped $48,000 in July — an all-time high and an increase of 12 percent from a year ago.

Monthly car payments hit an average $716 last month as rising interest rates made financing more expensive, according to consumer research firm J.D. Power.

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The market for new vehicles “is still limited by very low supply, record-high prices and now, higher interest rates,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Cox Automotive. “The key issue is going to be how high do interest rates get?”

A Federal Reserve committee will contemplate another interest rate hike at its next meeting beginning Sept. 20.

The tight supply is unlikely to ease up this month, though Cox analysts said they expect “the chip shortage and other supply chain problems to improve slightly by year-end.”

“In September, the constraints are expected to continue with sales being hampered by available inventory,” said Thomas King, president of data and analytics at J.D. Power.

Car shoppers waiting for Labor Day sales and discounts “will be frustrated by the lack of markdowns and choice of vehicles,” he said.

Diego Mendoza-Moyers is a business reporter covering energy, manufacturing and labor. A native of El Paso, he has previously written for the Albany Times Union, Las Vegas Review-Journal and Arizona Republic. He graduated from Arizona State University with a B.A. in journalism. Call Diego at 210-250-3165 or email diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net