Tokyo – Toyota announced an ambitious plan Wednesday to boost global sales to 9.8 million vehicles in 2008 – driving home a message of stellar success as its troubled U.S. rivals are closing plants and scaling back production.
Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. already surpassed Ford Motor Co. as the world’s No. 2 automaker in annual global vehicle sales in 2003.
And the latest plan shows Toyota is readying to overtake General Motors Corp. as No. 1. GM sold 9.2 million vehicles worldwide in 2005, the second-largest volume in the company’s history.
Soaring oil prices have proved a godsend for Toyota as drivers turn to fuel-efficient cars. Toyota models have a solid reputation for that with the Prius hybrid, Corolla compact and the midsize Camry, the best-selling model in the U.S. for eight of the past nine years.
In contrast, GM and Ford have long relied on sales of larger vehicles, including trucks and sport utility models, to drive profits, and have been devastated by the recent consumer shift to small cars.
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, truckmaker Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor Co., which makes small cars.
Toyota’s share of the American market is growing, mainly at the expense of the U.S. makers, climbing to 16.1 percent in August, up from 13.8 percent a year ago.
