Toyota Closes In on Number One

Toyota has outlined plans to sell as many as 9.34 million vehicles in 2007, which, if it follows through, would allow it to surpass General Motors as the world's largest automaker.

The new goal comes amid growing signs of the Japanese automaker's continuing success. Toyota surpassed Ford Motor Co. as the world's second largest automaker in annual global vehicle sales in 2003. Ford now expects Toyota to pass it in North American sales in 2007 as well.

Toyota said it sold 8.13 million vehicles worldwide in 2005, and is set to sell about 8.85 million vehicles this year, including sales from subsidiaries truck maker Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor Co., which makes small cars. Toyota's profit also grew 39 percent in its fiscal first quarter, which ended June 30, to $3.1 billion.

Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe declined to give a vehicle production target for 2008 but said the number may be slightly higher than the sales figure. "We are aiming for steady growth through strengthening all our operations,'' Watanabe told reporters.

Watanabe also said, in another challenge to competitors struggling to match Toyota's ambitious product plans, that his company would hire 8000 additional engineers worldwide by 2010.

The largest gain in vehicle sales in coming years will come from Asia outside Japan, including China, and they will also continue to grow in North America and Europe, although less dramatically, according to Toyota executives. Vehicle sales in Japan will stay flat, they said.
The ambitious plans in China and the rest of Asia also mean that Toyota now is exposed to more risk if China's economy slows or the military coup in Thailand triggers political unrest, Watanabe said.

Nevertheless, analysts said after the company's press conference that Toyota has clearly benefited from soaring oil prices, which have prompted drivers turn to fuel-efficient cars. Toyota models have a reputation for delivering impressive fuel economy. The Prius hybrid is now so popular its sales have nearly surpassed the tax credit quota set by the U.S. Congress.

(c) www.thecarconnection.com