Toyota Aims To Be No. 1 In 2008 Vehicle Sales

NAGOYA, Japan — Toyota said Tuesday that it planned to sell 9.85 million vehicles worldwide in 2008, setting an ambitious target despite worries about a slowing car market in the United States.

Toyota, which is trying to beat General Motors to become the world’s biggest automaker by sales, also said it would produce 9.95 million vehicles worldwide next year, up 5 percent from this year. The company projects a corresponding jump in global sales.

Toyota’s recent growth has put it on track to outsell General Motors in 2008. General Motors has placed this year’s sales estimate at 9.3 million vehicles, compared with Toyota’s estimate of 9.36 million.

Soaring gas prices have sharply bolstered the appeal of smaller fuel-efficient models that are Toyota’s main strength. Toyota’s sales have been lifted by the popularity of models like the Camry sedan, Corolla subcompact and the Prius gas-electric hybrid.

General Motors has been fiercely fighting back — largely by strengthening its business overseas — and could still keep the top industry spot, which it has held for 76 years.

G.M. has not given a forecast for the number of vehicles it expects to produce or sell in 2008. Back in 1978, the Detroit automaker set the industry record for annual global vehicle sales, 9.55 million.

Toyota executives acknowledged Tuesday that they worried about the market in the United States, where the subprime mortgage crisis and rising oil prices have hit consumers hard. But they nonetheless projected a 1 percent sales increase in the United States, to 2.64 million vehicles in 2008.

The executives were bullish about prospects for emerging markets like China, Russia and South America, but set conservative expectations for Europe, where they projected a 2 percent increase, to 1.27 million vehicles sold. In Japan, Toyota expects sales to remain flat, at 1.6 million vehicles next year.

Koji Endo, an auto analyst with Credit Suisse in Tokyo, said that next year would most likely prove a challenge even for Toyota, as American economic woes weigh on sales and profits. But he said the overall optimism for sales growth made sense, given Toyota’s recent performance.

“These are targets Toyota is giving, not forecasts, and so they are reasonable,” he said.

During the first nine months of this year, Toyota sold 7.05 million vehicles sold worldwide, just shy of G.M.’s figure of 7.06 million. The final tally for 2007 will be available in January.

A G.M. spokesman in Tokyo, Michihiro Yamamori, declined to comment, citing a company policy against commenting on its rivals’ goals.

Toyota also said it was preparing to start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries for low-emission vehicles.

Lithium-ion batteries, which are already in wide use in laptops and other gadgets, are smaller yet more powerful than the nickel-metal hydride batteries now used in gas-electric hybrids like the Prius. But lithium-ion batteries will not be used in the Prius, which has been on sale for a decade and is the most popular hybrid on the market, according to Toyota.

The lithium-ion battery will be used in a plug-in hybrid, which would recharge from a regular home power socket and travel longer as an electric vehicle than the Prius. Toyota has started tests on its plug-in hybrid, but has not shown a model using the new battery.

Masatami Takimoto, an executive vice president who oversees technology, said that Toyota’s lithium-ion battery was almost ready for mass production, but would not start up until after 2008.

Katsuaki Watanabe, the president of Toyota, said that hybrids would be a pillar of Toyota’s growth in the years ahead, and reiterated the company’s plan to offer hybrid versions of all its models after 2020.

In keeping with its aim to conserve energy and be efficient in both its manufacturing and its products, Toyota will use solar energy and wind power to reduce global warming emissions at what it called five “sustainable plants.” A plant being built in Mississippi, set to be in use in 2010, will be one such plant, Toyota said.

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