Toyota president: automaker must expand output in China

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The president of Toyota Motor Corp. said that the automaker will need to eventually expand car production in China, where the company expects to sell 700,000 vehicles this year, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Saturday.

In an interview, Katsuaki Watanabe also said it's possible that Toyota will lift production capacity in India and Brazil, and the company wants to increase output capacity in Russia to 50,000 vehicles a year from the current 20,000, according to the newspaper.

Watanabe said that total new auto sales in the Chinese market are expected to come to around 10 million vehicles this year and rise further next year, while sales in the U.S. market are expected to drop by about 1 million vehicles to around 15 million vehicles in 2008, the Yomiuri reported.