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Toyota expects to overtake GM in production in 2008

Toyota Motor Corp yesterday raised its sales forecast for next year and confirmed it expects to overtake US rival General Motors this year to become the world's top automaker in terms of production.

The Japanese auto giant said it expects to sell 9.85 million vehicles next year, up five percent from this year and higher than a previous target of 9.8 million.

General Motors has been the world's best-selling automaker for seven decades and holds the all-time record of selling 9.55 million vehicles in 1978. Toyota has been neck-and-neck with General Motors in sales in this year.

Toyota said that it expects to become the world's top automaker this year in terms of production with output of 9.51 million vehicles, beating GM which expects to produce 9.259 million as it undergoes major restructuring.

Next year Toyota expects to boost output by five percent to 9.95 million vehicles.

Toyota released the figures at the start of a traditional year-end press conference in its hub of Aichi Prefecture in central Japan.

The pioneer of eco-friendly hybrids, Toyota has won an especially strong following in the US, where sky-high prices at the pump have boosted demand for the Japanese firm's smaller vehicles.

But amid signs of economic trouble in the US, Toyota has recently looked to emerging economies for its future growth, expanding production in China and Russia along with North America.

General Motors, meanwhile, has been undergoing a major restructuring plan that includes shutting several factories and cutting 30,000 jobs next year.
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