Toyota plans record 10.4M vehicles

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Toyota announced Friday a global sales target for 2009 of about 10.4 million vehicles, a number that would put the Japanese automaker ahead of world leader General Motors' record reached 30 years ago.

Analysts say Toyota Motor Corp. is likely on track to beat General Motors Corp. as the world's biggest automaker in global vehicle sales as well as production this year -- a title Detroit-based GM has held for 76 years.
Toyota gave the ambitious sales plan in a document handed out as President Katsuaki Watanabe outlined the company's growth strategy for coming years.

Watanabe said Toyota will continue to upgrade quality in its products and work on technological innovations such as luxury Lexus hybrids.
"We will win in every opportunity, reduce risks, and even turn risks into opportunities," he said at a Tokyo hotel.
The record for annual global vehicle sales ever is the 9.55 million vehicles Detroit-based GM sold in 1978.
But Toyota has been closing in on the gap, getting a big boost from the popularity of its Camry sedans, Prius gas-electric hybrid and other models reputed for good mileage that are increasingly attractive amid soaring gas prices.
General Motors, which has been forced to scale back production amid intensifying competition from Toyota and other rivals, posted its third straight quarter of profit in the April-June period at $891 million. That marked a reversal from the $3.4 billion loss GM posted the same period last year.
Toyota and its group companies sold 8.8 million vehicles worldwide last year, trailing GM at 9.1 million vehicles.
Toyota has said it plans to sell 9.34 million vehicles this year, and 9.8 million vehicles in 2008. The 2009 target shows Toyota is determined to continue on that solid growth track.
Toyota has already beaten GM in global vehicle sales for the first six months of this year, selling 4.72 million vehicles, compared to GM's 4.674 million vehicles.
Toyota still trails GM in global vehicle production for the first half, rolling out 4.71 million vehicles worldwide.
General Motors, which produced 4.75 million vehicles during that period, does not give vehicle sales or production targets