NAGOYA (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. plans to become the world's first automobile group to annually sell more than 10 million vehicles in 2009, company sources said Wednesday.
The Toyota group, including truck subsidiary Hino Motors Ltd. and minivehicle maker Daihatsu Motor Co., will announce its global sales plan at its briefing for investors scheduled for Aug. 31, the sources said.
Earlier this month, Toyota said its sales in the first quarter of business 2007 topped those of General Motors Corp. of the United States for the first time for the April-June period, a fresh sign that the Japanese carmaker is on course to become the world's best-selling carmaker within the year.
GM, the current record holder for global annual sales in the industry's history, sold 9.55 million vehicles in 1978.
Toyota sold 8.80 million vehicles around the globe in 2006. It projects sales of 9.34 million units for this year and 9.8 million for 2008.
The company is finalizing its estimate for 2009, expecting sales of about 10.3 million units, the sources said.
Toyota has been investing more than ¥1 trillion annually over the last few years.
Its sales have been growing every year by around 500,000 units, almost the same number as the total annual sales of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru cars, which used to be partly owned by GM and is now one of Toyota's capital alliance partners.
While suffering slow domestic sales, Toyota expects to maintain its strength in North America and other overseas markets as rising fuel costs and global consciousness of environmental issues prompt consumers to seek fuel-efficient, eco-friendly cars like Toyota's Prius gas-electric hybrid.