Toyota sees group sales at 10.4 mn vehicles

Tokyo, Aug 31: Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it expects its group's worldwide sales to expand to 10.4 million vehicles in 2009, up 18 percent from last year, as it grabs a bigger share in mature markets and taps growing demand in China and other emerging countries.

Passing the 10 million milestone would be an auto industry first.

Toyota is cranking up market share in the big but stagnant markets of North America, Europe and Japan with fuel-efficient cars such as the Prius hybrid and RAV4 crossover as well as entry into the full-sized pickup truck segment in the United States with the Tundra this year.

Toyota, also the world's most valuable carmaker with a market capitalisation of over $200 billion, has been growing even more rapidly in China and Russia, where a burgeoning population of wealthy consumers is driving double-digit growth in demand.

Reuters
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