TOKYO (AFP) - Toyota is to raise its global production target for 2006 in a move that could push the Japanese firm ahead of General Motors as the world's largest automaker by units, a report said.
The new target of around 8.4 million vehicles was prompted by better-than-expected sales of the Corolla and other popular models in North America and Asia, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.
Toyota officials were not available to comment on the report.
The upward revision, which cuts two years from Toyota Motor Corp.'s previous medium-term production plan, equates to a 22 percent increase in output from 2003, the business daily said.
Having reached 6.83 million units in 2003, global car production of the Toyota group, which includes Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., is projected to reach 7.54 million units this year, the Nihon Keizai said.
If the General Motors group's production remains static and Toyota realizes its new production goal, the Japanese group will claim the number one spot in global car production in 2006, the Nihon Keizai said.
To meet its new output target, the group aims to bolster production capacity by expanding existing domestic factories and building new plants overseas, the Nihon Keizai said.
Toyota is building four new factories -- one in the Czech Republic, two in China, and the other in the Untied States -- which should come online in 2006.
Toyota was considering building more factories in North America and China around 2007 to boost production capacity to satisfy growing local demand, the Nihon Keizai said.
10/30/2004 - 08:49 GMT - AFP