POSTED: 9:12 am EDT September 20, 2006

Toyota is aiming to sell 9.8 million vehicles globally in 2008, the company's president said Wednesday, as the booming Japanese automaker quickens its pace to overtake General Motors as the world's No. 1.

The announcement by Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe comes at a time when money-losing General Motors Corp. is scaling back production to focus on restructuring its business.

Toyota 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, it said in a statement.

Toyota motored past Ford as the world's No. 2 automaker in annual global vehicle sales in 2003. GM sold 9.2 million vehicles worldwide in 2005, the second-largest volume in the company's history.

A major reason for Toyota's success has been its reputation for fuel-efficient cars such as the Prius hybrid, Corolla compact and the midsize Camry, the best-selling model in the U.S. for eight of the last nine years.

Toyota's share of the American market continues to grow, mainly at the expense of U.S. makers General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG.

According to figures released by Detroit-based GM earlier this month, the American automaker produced 9.05 million autos worldwide in 2005.

Watanabe declined to give a vehicle production target for 2008 but said the number may be slightly higher than the sales figure.

"We are aiming for steady growth through strengthening all our operations," he told reporters at a Tokyo hotel, adding the manufacturer hopes to strengthen quality control, expand overseas production and cut costs.

When comparing GM and Toyota's earnings, the contrast is even more striking, as consumers turn away from trucks and sport-utility vehicles to smaller cars delivering better mileage amid soaring gas prices.

Strong sales helped lift Toyota's profit by 39 percent in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30 to 371.5 billion yen ($3.1 billion).

In contrast, GM lost $3.4 billion in the same quarter as it took major charges in its North American restructuring program.

Toyota revised its parent earnings forecast upward Wednesday to a 500 billion yen ($4.3 billion) profit, up from its initial forecast for profit totaling 380 billion yen ($3.3 billion) and also above the 283.6 billion yen earned in the fiscal year ended March 31.

Toyota, which does not give a consolidated earnings forecast, changed its projected fiscal 2006 sales to 5.5 trillion yen ($46.9 billion). It had earlier forecast 5.2 trillion yen ($44.3 billion) sales, up from 4.7 trillion yen in sales the previous year.

Last week, Ford, which lost $254 million in the April-June period, announced a revised turnaround plan that will cut $5 billion in annual costs by the end of 2008 by slashing 10,000 white-collar workers and offering buyouts to all 75,000 unionized employees.

Under the plan, Ford, based in Dearborn, Mich., said it is shutting down two more plants to remake itself into a smaller, more competitive car company.

Ford has also placed its Aston-Martin luxury sports car brand up for sale, and it is considering sale of its other Premier Automotive Group brands: Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover.

Other Japanese automakers, including Honda Motor Co., are reporting hefty results. In May, Honda announced sweeping plans to spend $1.18 billion on new plants in the United States, Canada and Japan, and boost production to meet soaring sales of fuel-efficient models.

In another sign of the solid reputation of Japanese automakers, Nissan Motor Co., allied with Renault SA of France, is in talks about a possible alliance with GM.

Toyota shares, which had gained by about 40 percent to about 7,000 yen ($60) earlier in the year, inched down 0.8 percent to close at 6,230 yen ($53).


Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.