Toyota raises 6-month sales by forecast 3%: report

• Source: Global Times
• [08:04 September 27 2009]
• Comments

Toyota Motor Corp has raised its global sales forecast until March by 3 percent, to 6.7 million cars, the Tokyo Shimbun daily reported Saturday, in the latest sign of a rebound in auto demand.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker, is also raising its global production by 8 percent to 6.45 million vehicles for 2009-10, thanks to the impact of government subsidies and tax incentives on new fuel-efficient cars, the paper said.

Toyota has been struggling with its worst downturn since it was founded in 1937, but its sales have picked up recently, climbing 9 percent in August from the same month last year.

Earlier this month, Toyota announced a plan to hire about 800 temporary workers in October to meet the production increase on the back of a gradual recovery in global vehicle sales, marking its first such job increase in 16 months, Kyodo News reported.

Japan in April began offering as much as 250,000 yen ($2,789) in subsidies on each purchase of a low-emission car, part of the country's largest-ever economic stimulus package.

Toyota has asked the new government to extend the deadline for these subsidies by two years to the end of March 2012.

Toyota is also planning to offer, in the first half of next year, a new subcompact family car carrying a lower price tag in China than most Toyota cars have, Kyodo News reported Thursday.

Toyota Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo said Friday that the automaker is also hoping to increase its dealerships in China amid weakness in other markets.

Toyota now has about 550 dealerships in China, including Lexus showrooms. By contrast, the automaker has about 1,400 dealerships in the US.

Automobile sales in China are expected to continue climbing to 12.6 million units in 2009, up 35 percent from last year, Xu Changming, a senior economist with China's State Information Center in Beijing, was quoted by the AP as saying.

Reuters/Global Times