TOKYO, 21 September 2006 — Toyota is aiming to sell 9.8 million vehicles globally in 2008, the company’s president said yesterday, as the booming Japanese automaker quickens its pace to overtake General Motors as the world’s No. 1. The announcement by Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe comes at a time when money-losing General Motors Corp. is scaling back production to focus on restructuring its business.
Toyota sold 8.13 million vehicles worldwide in 2005, and is set to sell about 8.85 million vehicles this year, including sales from subsidiaries, truckmaker Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor Co., which makes small cars, it said in a statement.
Toyota motored past Ford as the world’s No. 2 automaker in annual global vehicle sales in 2003. GM sold 9.2 million vehicles worldwide in 2005, the second-largest volume in the company’s history.
A major reason for Toyota’s success has been its reputed image for fuel-efficient cars like the Prius hybrid, Corolla compact and the midsize Camry, the best-selling model in the US for eight of the last nine years.
Toyota’s share of the American market continues to grow, mainly at the expense of US makers General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG. “It’s a positive and aggressive plan,” said Shotaro Noguchi, auto analyst with Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. in Tokyo, adding that Toyota is likely to achieve its target, as sales are solid for the Corolla and other small Toyota models.