Toyota may miss U.S. sales target

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http://ctv2.theglobeandmail.com/serv...N/ctv-business

TOKYO — Toyota may scale back its ambitious target of selling more vehicles in the United States this year than it did in 2007, as damage from an economic slowdown and soaring oil prices becomes more fully known.

Surpassing the 2.62 million vehicles the company sold last year in the U.S. — its biggest market — would be difficult, Executive Vice President Tokuichi Uranishi told a shareholders meeting Tuesday, according to Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco.

The world's No. 2 auto maker announced in December that it was hoping to sell 2.64 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2008 and predicted a 5 per cent jump in global sales to 9.85 million vehicles because of strong sales in emerging markets such as China and Russia.

Toyota Motor Corp. will review its sales targets in July, as it does every year.

Through the first half of June, total auto sales in the U.S. were running at an annualized rate of about 12.5 million vehicles, according to J.D. Power & Associates. It was the lowest level for June in decades and a huge drop from the year-earlier rate of 16.3 million vehicles.

Mr. Uranishi projected that total U.S. auto sales could slip under 15 million vehicles this year, Mr. Nolasco said.

Last week, Ford Motor Co. said industry wide sales could drop as low as 14.4 million for the year, which would be the lowest level in 13 years, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.

With buyers fleeing to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, demand has soared for Toyota's gas-electric hybrid models. Still, their popularity has been unable to fully insulate the Japanese car maker from a drop-off in sales of larger vehicles.

Toyota announced recently a slowdown in large pickup truck and SUV production at plants in Texas and Indiana.

But the shift in consumer preference has hit Toyota's U.S. rivals especially hard.

General Motors Corp. said Monday that it would further cut SUV and pickup truck production, on top of its announcement earlier this month that it will close four North American plants by 2010. It also plans to offer zero-interest financing to clear out inventories of some 2008 pickup truck and SUV models.