Toyota Motor Corp. said it sold the most cars and light trucks to U.S. consumers last year of any manufacturer for the first time, beating out General Motors Co., which relies more heavily on sales to fleet customers.
"Looking at preliminary figures Toyota for the first time should end up as the number one manufacturer in retail sales," Don Esmond, Toyota senior vice president for automotive operations, said on a conference call. "We feel great momentum heading into 2010."
Toyota, which sold 1.77 million cars and trucks in 2009, a 20% drop from a year earlier, sold 1.6 million vehicles to retail customers last year. GM said it sold 2.07 million vehicles last year and didn't immediately break out its overall retail sales for 2009.
"Safe to say, December was a pretty decent month for the industry especially in a year when flat sales were considered good and that's encouraging," said Mr. Esmond. He interpreted the December sales level to be "a good sign of stability in the market and modest growth ahead."
Toyota is optimistic that the economic recovery is taking hold, helped by stronger holiday sales and improving consumer confidence. "That's a good indication that the recovery will continue to pick up steam in the months ahead," he added. Toyota expects the industry to sell about 1 million more vehicles in 2010 to about 11.5 million.
"Toyota hopes to maintain and slightly grow our share in the 2010 recovery," said Mr. Esmond. Toyota plans to launch 10 new and refreshed vehicles in 2010, including the new Sienna minivan and a new Scion vehicle that will be announced at the New York auto show in April.
(Source: irco.biz)
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