Toyota targets emerging economies for half of global sales

Post date: Jul 2, 2013 2:26:12 PM

NAGOYA--Toyota Motor Corp. hopes to see half of its global sales come from emerging economies, which offer access to huge markets of potential new customers, an official said at a briefing session July 1.

"We hope to be selling 5 million units in emerging countries when we reach 10 million units worldwide," Executive Vice President Yasumori Ihara said, referring to Toyota's plans to develop new markets in Myanmar, Cambodia, Kenya and elsewhere.

The briefing session was held in Nagoya to present a new management structure that took office in June.

In 2012, 8.7 million units of Toyota and Lexus vehicles were sold globally, with 3.7 million coming from emerging countries. Selling 5 million units in emerging economies would divide Toyota's sales figures in roughly equal numbers between the developed world and developing markets.

Executive Vice President Satoshi Ozawa said Toyota will "not pursue market share figures at all costs" in the industrialized world. He said the automaker hopes to sell 1.5 million units in Japan, unchanged from the current level.

Observers say sales in Japan could plummet next year due to a planned increase in the consumption tax rate from the current 5 percent to 8 percent in April.

In a separate announcement, Toyota said it began rolling out a new Corolla model, intended for the European market, at its Turkish plant in Sakarya on July 1.

The production in Turkey replaces that at the automaker's Takaoka plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. Toyota hopes to sell 90,000 units of the new model in 2014.