Toyota expecting US sales to grow in 2008

Anthony Fontanelle
December 14, 2007

Leading Japanese automakers, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. sees sales growth in 2008, according to the top executives of the companies in the American region.

Jim Lentz, President of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said that by 2008, Toyota expects a sales increase of “single-digit, three percent range” from the expected 2.61 million unit sales this year in a predicted 16.1 million overall auto industry sales for 2007.

"The first half of the year is going to be probably below that (annualized rate) and the second half of the year we'll see some recovery that will probably be above that number," Lentz said in a briefing with auto reporters in Washington.

Honda Motor Corp., the maker of genuine Acura CL fuel tank, is also expecting higher sales in a slightly weaker U.S. auto market in 2008, "I think it will be somewhere around 15.9 million, a bit less than 16 million," Tetsuo Iwamura, president of Honda Motor America, told reporters in Detroit. He said Honda expects to boost its U.S. sales 2.5 percent over current-year levels.

According to Lentz, the American economy is not so good at the moment. This condition is brought about by the crisis in the housing market as well as in the mortgage industry which is very apparent in California and Florida, two key markets of Toyota. Eventually, sales in the two states affected the company’s total U.S. sales by 25 percent.

Lentz said Toyota may increase discounting next year through "tactical incentives to help stimulate the market."

Although Toyota’s expected sales growth in 2008 is very humble, the automaker’s market shares is increased from 15.2 percent in 2006 to 16.2 percent this year. Next year, the auto market will have flat sales ranging from 15.5 million to 16.1 million vehicle sales.

Lutz added that next year, 16 Toyota vehicles will be debuting compared to 12 Toyota vehicles introduced this year and the North American International Auto Show will set stage for some of it.

Until November, there had been a 3.6 percent sales increase for Toyota and the automaker expects the pace to be maintained until the end of the year to 3-4 percent increase.

"It's not a goal. You won't see banners and posters in our office saying we want to be No. 1 because it's really not important to the customer that we're No. 1," Lentz said. "If it is not important to the customer, it's really not important to us."

Source:  Amazines.com