Toyota Motor Corp. will introduce more hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric cars and fuel-cell vehicles to boost sales in the U.S.
Toyota also will offer a 40,000 km, two-year free maintenance deal in the U.S. on all Toyota and Scion-brand models, the automaker said Thursday in a statement on its U.S. sales website.
The move expands on the offer the company made earlier this year of two years of no-cost standard maintenance on Toyota-brand models.
The company is adding more products and service incentives as it seeks to regain market share. Toyota posted the smallest increase in U.S. sales this year through September among the top eight carmakers.
Its U.S. sales rose 1.1 percent to 1.3 million units in the first nine months of 2010, compared with a 21 percent increase for Ford Motor Co. and 20 percent for Hyundai Motor Co.
The company also is investing more than $1 billion on a new plant in Mississippi to increase production of Corolla compacts, and it is increasing truck production as demand recovers, the statement said.
Toyota is relying more on local designers and engineers to tailor products for the North American market, it said.
Toyota is aiming for U.S. sales of 2 million units by 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing a person it didn't identify.
2 million Prius sales
Kyodo NewsToyota Motor Corp. said Thursday that it has sold more than 2 million units of its Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car since it was launched in 1997.
Global cumulative sales reached 2.01 million units as of the end of September, the automaker said.
The Prius is enjoying favorable sales in more than 70 countries and regions — especially Japan and North America.
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