Toyota China Oct sales up 42% to 65,500 vehicles

Shanghai, November 4 (Gasgoo.com) Toyota Motor's sales in China last month increased 42% from a year earlier to 65,500 vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported today, citing a company spokesman.

The robust sales in October boosted the Japanese automaker's overall sales in China during the January-October period to 551,769 vehicles, up 16% from the same period a year ago, the Toyota spokesman said.

Toyota's China sales are recovering from the first half, when they shrank after the company's failure to anticipate demand for smaller cars, but its sales growth in the Chinese market still lags behind that of General Motors, which may sell more than 1.6 million vehicles in China this year, up 47% from last year.

Toyota Motor in September said that it would increase the proportion of its smaller cars in the Chinese market for sales growth. The carmaker also plans to launch a new subcompact "family car" in China by 2015.

Chinese buyers have been snapping up smaller cars, especially after the government in January cut sales taxes on sub-1.6-liter cars. However, Toyota, whose product line-up focused on larger cars, reported flat China sales in the first half of the year.

In addition to putting more of its small cars to the China market, Toyota will also increase its Chinese dealerships to around 590 by the end of this year from about 500 in August.