Toyota outpaces Ford, VW with sales doubling
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-10-12 14:50
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp more than doubled its vehicle sales in China in
this year's first nine months, outpacing rivals and the market thanks to
accelerated expansion in the world's second largest auto arena.
The
relative latecomer to China moved 203,000 vehicles out of showrooms from January
to September -- filling nearly three quarters of its 2006 sales target of
278,000 units, a company executive told Reuters on Thursday.
Toyota Motor Corp President
Katsuaki Watanabe poses next to the company's new Corolla Fielder during
an unveiling in Tokyo October 10, 2006.
[Reuters] |
That outperformed even the 105.5 percent growth in nine-month sales reported
by Ford Motor Co this week -- another latecomer in a hotly contested market
now dominated by General Motors Corp and Volkswagen AG.
Toyota's sales came to 33,000 units in September alone, up 188 percent from
the same period in 2005, helped in part by the introduction of its Chinese-built
Camry sedan -- the best-selling car in the United States in eight of the past
nine years.
"At this speed, Toyota could topple GM as the top foreign auto seller in
China as early as in 2008," said Zhang Xin, a senior industry analyst with
Guotai Junan Securities.
The Detroit giant, which sold 453,832 vehicles in China in the first half of
2006, has not released results for the first three quarters.
Ford sold 114,685 units in China in the same period, while Volkswagen moved
524,558 vehicles, up 28.7 percent from a year earlier.
Toyota, the world's second-largest auto maker, also vastly outshone a 34
percent gain in China's overall passenger car market, where 455,539 units were
sold from January to September, according to figures provided by a Shanghai auto
association.
| 1 | 2 |  |
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
|
