Toyota aims to sell 650,000 vehicles in China in 2009

Shanghai, July 24 (Gasgoo.com) Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday that it is aiming to sell 650,000 vehicles in the Chinese market this year, reports China Knowledge.

Etsuo Hattori, the Japanese auto maker's chief representative for China, said that China has now indisputably become Toyota's most important market, and the company intends to launch a series of new models in the second half of this year to consolidate its market position further.

In the first six months this year, the Japanese automaker sold 284,000 vehicles in the country, almost unchanged from the 285,000 units sold a year earlier.

Mr. Hattori also estimated that a total of 12 million automobiles would be sold in China in 2009, while by comparison, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) forecasted earlier that the country's auto sales would near 11 million units this year.